AND, AND, AND ...TIRING, DISHEARTENING AND ...?

  And on and on and on. Does it ever end? Will it ever end? Day after day and day ad infinitum and most definitely ad nauseam, to the point of wondering whether there ever, can ever be an end.   Are there enough people to faithfully work towards an end or are there too few to make a difference, to have a significant impact? And even among those who truly care is there enough of an inner stamina and determination to counter the seemingly innate trait within humans to consistently and forever engage in negative actions? From the simplest seemingly harmless or inconsequential insult to the worst deaths - and the worst lives - mankind can impose on others of mankind, when do we, can we, say enough! We have all had enough and there must be an end to it lest we inadvertently or on purpose, bring an end to mankind. 

At times I wonder. Most of the cultures around the world share much of the same idea of Creation or Origin of the world. Most also contain within their Creation a fierce battle between the forces of Good and Evil, between the Heavens above and the Hell below. It features a rebellion by those who have been blessed by destiny to live in the Heavens alongside the Creator, an infinite blessing and privilege, desire even more. What is the more and what purpose would it serve remains unclear and ill defined. 

And yet rebel they do, and lose they do, and in their loss, they take with them a piece of peace, that peace which had been gifted to those destined to live upon the face of this Earth. To live lives of goodness and generosity. To worship the Creator and thank Him for the gifts given to mankind. Well, that piece of peace denied to us, we forged another path of life. That of denying life, that of hate, that of violence, never ending, never ameliorated. Never ever having been discarded in any truly significant, meaningful manner or consequence. 

And, so, here we are all those millennium later, fighting and refighting the same motivations for the same mistaken ideas, with the same mannerisms and actions which have already failed us. And yet, again, on and on, we persist, insist, contrary to common sense and understanding of the true needs of mankind,  to follow the same failed paths through life, those highways and byways inimical  to the lives we should be living. The same fatal path of flawed beings who insist that if we do the same thing over and over again, somehow the results will change. But they do not, and they will not unless we, mankind, institute deep changes within our moral and mental outlooks, our understanding of true worth and false glitter.

And yet. And yet and yet again. Tirelessly. Plodding through the same muck. Wading through the same creeks and rivers of blood, always renewed by the infinite wars of mankind waged upon and aainst itself. On and on and on again. Even should a positive idea arise, and backers be found, inevitably mankind manages to bollix that up as well. A beautiful idea of world peace, of nations conversing with each other, rather than waging war against each other, now polluted and twisted beyond recognition, almost a perfect 180 degrees reversal, of the hopes and dreams of the founders. Hence, the United Nations, an oxymoron, of title and present intent. Yet another colossal failure of mankind and aren't we just so expert and proud of our consistent success at snatching failure from the jaws of victory.

This morning while browsing through the news a date caught my eye. 1566. Exactly 500 years after the cataclysmic changes and future results to ensue from the year 1066. And yet, many, many, many more years in millennial quantity added to that and here we are, fighting and refighting wars for the same reasons. We have pushed aside wonderful gifts, the fruits of the human brain, concentrating instead on momentary fleeting achievements of   flawed desires arising from flawed minds and souls. We, mankind, have almost always consigned ideas and thoughts of beauty, of eternal truths to the discard pile of humanity. A wealth of ideas never allowed to blossom into positive fruition. A world where we shatter the rosy glasses and replace them with cracked dark ones blinding all to true sight and true interpretation, true knowledge and action.

So often, too often, we allow ourselves to be caught up in the minutiae of a matter or, conversely, ignore the seeming minutiae, considering a small number to be of no significance and we misplace and misjudge true relevancy and importance in the larger picture, the longer run. Here are several examples of such misplaced emphasis. 

Back and forth go the arguments. We get another cease fire. Another possible exchange of hostages with one hostage being equal to hundreds, if not thousands, of terrorists. With one body of a slaughtered hostage equal to hundreds of bodies of the foe. Does it not ring loud and clear or be of deafening volume, enough to get the attention of the world, proof of the evil of Hamas and their equally inhumane cohorts?   That Hamas does not value their own, as proven by the wildly out of alignment ratio of one live or dead Israeli versus the 10s and hundreds, and thousands of their own? 

There is an obvious clash in values as each and every life of our own is of value. Even, especially when, we cry over babies WE have lost - Ariel, Kfir, Ravid, torn from his mother, from the arms of his father, from life, due to the brutal murder attack by a terrorist. The babies burned alive in the ovens of their homes. Or shot by Hamas. We even weep over the babies of the Hamas murderers, but it is not we who cynically placed them in danger, to be used as  weapons of war and propaganda. Who values life? Who is the trusted partner for peace or is the truth that there is no viable partner, no cooperating partner at all?  

Does this not tell clearly the true blackness of soul of these brutal terrorists, these rapists and pillagers of humanity. How can we make it clear to the world that we are not nitpicking when we demand the release of our hostages, when we will argue over the life of the one more, the ten more, and they are so cavalier about the lives of many. Does it not tell clearly, in blatant fact, of that true blackness of their souls? The answer sadly is that the world hears not. Sees not. Nor does it want to change at all, preferring and then to wallow in and incite the growth of JewHatred and its awful consequences, staging already up to and including death.   

A life. Five lives. How many lives more? When is it enough to satisfy the hate glutted veins of murderers? What have we lost with the deaths of so many individuals?  What has mankind lost and can there ever be compensation for those losses, for the might have been now denied life and possibility? One life saved, one world saved. One life lost, many worlds lost. 

Yesterdays lost. 

Todays forever denied.

Tomorrow's promises never to be realized.

When will humanity understand what we have done to ourselves? 

And and and and and and and and.

  

NOT A CHANCE!

  Seriously? You gotta' be kidding. Approach any director, any producer in the movie business and present a script containing this plot and expect nothing else other than being laughed out of the office and sent directly to the nearest shrink. Or better yet, to the locked ward of the nearest hospital for a mandatory 72-hour hold, for evaluation and diagnosis and recommendation for treatment.  Reason for this involuntary commitment?   He poses a serious and immediate existential danger to both himself and this nation.  

The inevitable diagnosis would be a severe case of Trump Derangement Syndrome, the very same mental disease named for him. Recommendation? An order for permanent incarceration within a luxurious locked ward where the man could engage in any kind of make-believe world he imagines. Where his ego is never challenged, where he can boast of his oh so wonderful plans without being questioned and/or challenged. Where no one asks him difficult questions, causing him to descend into paroxysms of word salad and repetitions of absolute nonsense and verbiage of a child. i.e. Referring to Democrats who are refusing to give him a clear road ahead on his "Big Beautiful Bill" are deemed "Bad People". 

Or when he persists in living in a rather inaccurate conception of the past, wherein an election was rigged. (It was clearly not so.) Or when he persists in spouting imaginary statistics of egregious untruth, to support his completely deranged antagonism towards 'immigrants' - legal or otherwise, all according to his specifications. Legality? Ignored. Constitutional rights? Ignored or rammed out of commission. Proper Presidential behavior and understanding of the requisite dignity and honesty of his position? Say what? To end his use of the nation to enrich his financial standing, brazenly, no apparent understanding of the wrongs he is perpetrating upon the nation and the world in general. None at all.  Nor does he care.

Perhaps the most painful aspect of it all is that he cannot fathom the degree to which he has become the butt of the routines of comedians. And the belly laughs of the audiences in response.  His rampant rages are imitated, and he comes off as the idiot, the dangerous one, he is. He rants and raves maniacally, eerily reminiscent of the behavior of Hitler, engaging in vitriolic attack against immigrants, legal or not, any immigrant will do. How much better America and the world would have been if his grandfather had been refused entry into this nation! Ahh, the dreams of woulda', coulda', shoulda'.  

I wonder how this nation could have missed the terrible harm immigrants inflicted upon this nation. How could we have not seen clearly the "damages" done by all those immigrants and their descendants. (Oooh, Donny Boy, getting close to home, is it?)    Intellectuals, scientists, writers, artists, playwrights, doctors, researchers, judges, carpenters, painters, teachers, religious leaders. Name the field and therein you will find immigrants galore. The bone structure of this nation. That is the truth. Not this.

 “USA HATING JUDGES” judges were “ON A MISSION” to allow “MURDERERS, DRUG DEALERS, RAPISTS, GANG MEMBERS AND RELEASED PRISONERS FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD” in the U.S. so they could “ROB, MURDER AND RAPE AGAIN.”

Courtesy of the twisted hate filled threatening and deranged mind of Trump, so shamefully our President. And please not to forget that mental institutions and the prisons of the world are directly flooding our borders with their freed human refuse. So speaks this oh so special social and moral arbiter. G-d help us, but then again, why the Hell would He wish this one in His neighborhood? Even the Devil declines. 

In the throes of his dementia this man has managed to cripple the political structure of this nation. He has somehow caused grown men and women to lose their sense of self, to trash their independence of mind and thought, to grovel before him as if he were the Lord High Almighty Himself. (Sorry about that thought. Please forgive.)  

I can't for the life of me figure it out. They swing with every wild turn he makes, even when clearly contradictory or nasty beyond belief. He pardons crooks, cheaters, liars and traitors, but then again, when one sees the reflection in the mirror, when the shoe fits. when Jan6 haunts the nation, well, ... 

Just about the only thing standing in the way of the introduction of authoritarianism into this nation, the shredding of our Constitution and our democratic tradition, is the federal judiciary. Within that challenged body resides the hopes and chances of this nation to survive the demented, egotistical, monarchial ambitions of Trump et al. Consistently, they hold the line, turn down his ridiculous twisted cases and complaints presented by his soulless lawyers, lawyers who collude in the attempts to wreck this nation, to allow the dismantling of our three-branch system of government, of checks and balances put in place for precisely such times as these. 

When the rot builds up from the inside, when even the Bible warns us that the worst foes are those who come from the inside, from among us, then we must heed the clarion call. Rescue our nation. Turn out the false leaders of Congress. Disbar patently law-breaking attorneys. Impeach tainted judges and the villain within the Oval Office. We must find once again a backbone for our national spine. Reclaim our national ethos, the impetus within to go forward positively and truly. A pipe dream no longer deemed possible? I cannot agree. I will not agree. We must not agree.  

We cannot give up; there is too much at stake. For us, for our children, in the name of our ancestors who were brave and bold, who dared to dream, and made it possible for us to dream as well. 

Our yesterdays, our todays, our tomorrows. 

Together. As it should be. 

Remember who we are, what America is, a land of dreams made possible, a democracy where one's voice can be heard, an ethos of better lives for all, in peace.

As an aside, as an English teacher at heart, I cannot but love the actions of the judge who took Trump and lawyers to task for the ridiculous overuse of exclamation points to the point of idiocy. Gotta' love the judge. Kudos to him. (Gotta' hate the fact of the ignorant President we have.) 

     

 

NOPE. NOT YET THE TIME FOR IT

  Okay. I was really hoping to take a break this morning. You see, despite my busy life in analyzing and solving all the crises of the world, there is a smaller world in which I am involved as well. That is my personal world and the difficulties within. First and foremost is how we little, (i.e. short) people are ignored when placement of an item, a switch, a cabinet, a shelf, a hanging rod is at stake.

What happens generally follows this path. A man, mostly in conference re height placement with another man, decide on the proper height. All the while, they are forgetting one important factor in the placement, and that is me and others like me. Never too tall in the 1st place and now, after the onset of old, okay, senior shrinkage, evidently ongoing, we certainly cannot work well as per the placement of the items in question.

What happens then is a joke, but not so much a joke. In order to look into a peephole or unlock a door or even take something out of a kitchen cabinet, take a remote control out of its holder on the wall, we short people must resort to ingenuity    to achieve our goals. It is time consuming. It is energy draining and it is maddening beyond belief.

And this, at this point, however, I cannot continue with this diatribe because, unfortunately, the greater woes of the greater world call unto me, asking for my advice, desperate for my solutions. The eternal case of the realities of the world interfering with the flow of creative juices. 

Thus, out goes the light humor and in floods the darkness of a terrible world, infused with so much hate that people are carrying it around in huge sacks, seeking places where to dump it. Much different from the seeking of an honest man carried on by Diogenes. However, while he failed in his search, the hate dumpers of this world are quite unpleasantly successful in their quest, so much so they often startle themselves. 

But have no fear, for they simply triple their efforts and are again, unhappily for we who are targets, quite successful, much to the detriment of people like me. Here, I am not referring to we shorties, but to minorities, scapegoats, i.e. the Jews, among others, and usually at the head of the receiving line.  The Chosen Manifest. Ugly in interpretation, hideous in application, and beyond the beyond in consequences and ability to survive for lo these many a millennium.  

 What bugs me the most though is that common sense answers, methodologies open to success are there in plentiful amount even as we remain blind to them. On purpose? Possibly, even probably at times, and one must wonder why these ugly bits and pieces of the human psyche must persist and resist successfully all attempts to render it moot, extinct, forever to remain so. 

Perhaps success can be attained when we humans realize we tend to elect and choose and/or enable those leaders who are not the leaders we need. Even better would be the simultaneous realization of that fact, along with a quickening tempo of the understanding of what we need to in act and fact, to make this a better world. Now, I certainly am not the brightest nor the quickest nor the most insightful brain on this earth, but surely certain ideas and facts and interpolation of such should have occurred much earlier than it has.              

Why is it that when I say something, as in JewHatred, I was called to task for such a creation even as now more are using it or a close cousin version of it. Why was I shouted out and down when I insisted that Donald Trump was not the be all and end all, certainly was not going to be the answer to the problems of Israel, to problems of JewHatred. He was not to be trusted, so erratic is he, so crooked, so morally twisted, so decency deficient, so focused on his own enrichment and betterment, so law defying and breaking, be it in opposition to the rights of the Constitution, the truth of history, the structure of our government, the necessity for impartiality and honesty and intelligence among the judiciary, the decency necessary for the Oval Office. To keep separate personal desires from the needs of the nation, to not conduct personal commerce while shilling the dignity of and access to the White House. 

 And on. And on. I have not seen the end of this list and neither have you, we, all of us, for so great is the depth of his depravity and insanity. Too many American Jews, supporters of Israel, and within the government of Israel have bought his hyperinflated stock, a stock now growing ever more worthless.

All one has to do is pick up a paper or listen to a newscast and grasp his ever-growing erratic “changeability”. Criticism of Israel. Praise of Israel - with hooks. Threats and boasts which are never actualized, consisting of hot air in huge volume. How is it that we accept his direct face to face talks with Hamas, a declared terrorist organization. Why is it that he is prepared to consign our hostages to perdition forever? Seriously, why would anyone with a modicum of sanity believe that should Israel pull back, pull out of Gaza all the way beyond the borders, that our hostages alive and dead would be returned? Seriously? 

For that matter why is there no back sass, no opposition coming from the United States in reaction to the threats of the countries of Europe, never ever supporters of Israel nor of their own Jewish citizens, and now all demanding that Israel be declared a pariah. Yes, that word is used. Among the nations of the world. In fact, not even deserving of the title of state.  Now always coupled with the adjective Jewish. Are other states coupled with the term Muslim or Christian?  Why do we hear only silence?

And think not that this remains only in one sector of government. The Supreme Court has now refused to hear the case brought by the Apache Nation, read the opening of national land, sacred to the Apache, to be victim of the ravages of a copper mining company. If this their sacred land is declared open for market, despite all the wrong this country, this nation has done to the Native Americans, what is to prevent other sacred land around the world to be consigned as open to the highest bidder.  

One must understand that rot once infused into even the smallest vein or capillary of a government,    spreads exponentially  and the possibilities of cleansing this rot from within and without grow dimmer by the day, even by the hour at times. Worse, worst of all is that it's success is built upon the foundation of contempt for humanity, that it will not see through the disguises, the confusion that the poor leaders of our choosing have generated.  

It is a viewpoint that allows one to weep for the "starving” people of Gaza even as the really, truly starving, unto death, the captives, are not mentioned, consigned to a minor role in this, happenstance victims, of no importance and certainly of little account to and for the world. It is a policy of voluntary willful blindness and deafness and muteness of the mouth.

Quite important as well is the Op Ed essay in the New York Times that “None of This is Good for the Jews". Balloons of great danger have been set free to fly wherever and whenever they land. Inevitably, they do so, or they pop and spew out the poison contained within. Truths are twisted until one does not recognize them and dire consequences to yes, our institutions of higher learning, grow. Yes, they have become tainted over the past decade, overrun with foes of Israel and Jews and that needs to be attended to and straightened out. However, contained within these policies of anti institutions of higher learning are the facts. These institutions are repositories of Jewish professors, and their contributions. Note that these labs of higher research so critical to curing children's cancer to the halting of Alzheimer's and dementia. The cleansing of the world's environment are also places highly populated with Jews. By mass exile of foreign students contained within are many hundreds, if not thousands of Jewish and Israeli students.  All now fall under that same guillotine. 

The problem is crude sly people in our government, and in fact, the governments of the world. They are open to all the old prejudices highly sprinkled with new attachments. No, none of this is good for the Jews, it has not been so for a long, too long, time and none of this is good for the world in general. 

What do we do about it? We have not undertaken a ruthless culling about what we have allowed to grow over the foundation of good government. We have yet to teach them how important are the values of our yesterdays that we live by and with, in our    todays and necessity to keep them into the tomorrows.  

As for we shorties, I'll be back. 

Right after I solve the woes of the world.  

WAKE UP. WAKE UP!

 Perhaps I am missing some urgent connection in my head, but I simply do not understand the machinations of the world today. How is it that consistently, without a break, without a doubt, Israel, the aggrieved nation, is put in the pressure cooker. Forced to agree to deals, with deals, that are of clearly no good for it. No good for its hostages. No good for its citizens. 

How is it that after 600 days of illegal, unlawful criminal imprisonment of the victims of kidnapping and slaughter, of withstanding of worse than the torments of Torquemada and his Inquisition it remains condoned by the world? Is it because the majority held are Jewish? Is it because the world has moved far away from any true humanity?  Is it excusable? The answer to that question should be a resounding NO!!!! Alas, never is.  

 Yet another 70 days before a complete quota of 10 living hostages are released. That is, if my assumption is correct, that five will be released immediately upon onset of yet another ceasefire, 70-day ceasefire, at the end of which five more released, along with the bodies of those slaughtered and/or killed in captivity.  That is, if we even reach that point. Been there, done that, have we not. Hamas has been well known to renege on its deals.

All the while, with no accurate complete presentation of a list, who is, and who is not, who is at death's door, who is to be consigned to the next bout of despair as others go free and he remains, isolated, starved, weakening by the second. To whom, to which families do we assign that horror? How do we live with ourselves, yet how can we not, for to turn aside means leaving all behind. It requires a Solomonic resolution, but Solomons are quite rare these days. In fact, I believe they are extinct. No hope there.

Hence, we condemn the 'left behind' to yet another long period of uncertainty. Watching as others are freed and they remain as hostages, chained and tortured, continued to starve. Continued to go untreated for the wounds perpetrated by Hamas and from medical issues exacerbated by the inhumane treatment they have been receiving for almost two years. When will these left behind be redeemed? Only God knows, and I am not sure that even He understands the twisted byways and pathways of Hamas nor if He is paying full attention to all this.

Hence the title "wake up". Wake up all you do-gooders out there. Wake up all you Pollyanna figures assuming that for once, Hamas will do the right thing, to keep a bargain, and perhaps even advance on it, at least send out the remaining 10, a release of all - and a definite cessation of war. World, wake up to the truth of the matter. Wake up to the horror of the matter. An entire nation, no, an entire world is held at bay, blackmailed, forced to agree to egregious lies, knowing well these are lies and pushed not so unwillingly into criticism of Israel, condemnation of its every effort to win a war, to get back its aggrieved citizens and to finish with Hamas for once and for all. I cannot think of any other war with the antagonist and instigator of the war is allowed to dictate terms and conditions to the victors. Never. Ever. So why here?

So, wake up world. Smell the coffee, whatever brand or type you want. Open wide eyes and ears and minds to the truth. Ignore those from among the Jewish people who wittingly or not, aid the enemy, buying into and embracing false cries. Ignoring the fact that these collateral casualties have been so because their rulers deemed it appropriate. To be used as weapons of war, even as their cries of "innocence" ring out false, denying their participation in and enablement of Hamas. To continue to perpetrate horror on and on.

Perhaps these voices are because they have reached a point beyond tolerance, cannot abide this horrible war, the bloodshed, but remember - who began this? Who kept it going? Who took and abused and slaughtered? Who has been playing a very cruel game of musical chairs? Who has denied access to these hostages?  Whatever the original intent, no matter how much good they meant, they engage in behavior of which they know not what they do. They know not how encouraging their sympathetic words are to Hamas. They discount and/or ignore the continuing awful impacts and inroads into Israeli society and Jews round the world.  Aiding the enemy is the very least of it all, intentional or not, but a fact is a fact.    

Does anyone really think that even with the release of the last living hostage, should there be any, and the repatriation of all the aggrieved corpses of Israelis and other heroes, that peace will reign?   

Unfortunately, in war it is difficult, near to impossible, to prevent all collateral damage. Too often the presence of civilians is purposely enabled so as to increase casualties and false claims of violations, of murder, of war crimes. When one side does all it can to warn, to protect, even as the other shoots deliberately into civilian populations in the hopes and with the motivations of increasing casualties, who is to blame?  The shoulders of those who created these conditions bear the guilt. Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, civilian enablers, Houthis, Iran, sympathizers round the world and of course those who agitate for the most violent JewHatred.  

So yes, wake up, wake up, world. Wake up to the ugliness of a prejudice never ending. Wake up to the ever ramping up of the horror and the effect of that hatred. Wake up to its compounding, never lessening, always increasing in intensity and consequence. Wake up, for we, the Jewish nation, are tired of this. We will not lay down among wolves and die in order to please you. We will not give up, to see a world greatly enriched by our presence and contributions to it, given so much of ourselves, of our minds, of our abilities to deny and negate it all. We will not ever again take up the bags and packs of the forever wandering, forever denied homes. No more.

Wake up. Wake up. Wake up. People of Israel, wake up to detractors of Israel, to those who have deserted Israel. Return to the books of history, the Bible and read and know the truth of history.    

All the yesterdays which remind us that we have beaten back all comers, all those who wished to wipe out the Jewish people. No matter the name of ruler or Empire, they were unable to carry out and fulfill that one wish - to write off the Jewish people, so stubborn, so refusing to just lay down and die. They are gone and we are here,

Our yesterdays reveal our todays. We have all the todays bear witness to our determination, to our resilience, that We. Are. Here. And here we will remain. Available to us is the most powerful force on Earth - its Creator. He has sent down reprimands but never has deserted us. The cries of His People will be heard, loud and clear, and rescue will be sent, one way or another.

Thus, our yesterdays and todays ensure our tomorrows. Their meaning is always with us.  

Wake up, world.  Why not discard the weapon of war, its cruelty. It never solves anything in perpetuity and always, the next war arises from the dregs of the prior one, and there is always a next one. We are all responsible for Tikkun Olam, an injunction to leave the world a better place for having been there. It begins with Tikkun Anashim - the mending and repair of people, their inner souls.

Why not get onto the other road, the one where the sun is shining and the only screams are those of children at play and the delighted laughter of parents.

Wake up. Please, wake up.

ANGEL HAIR AND IE CREAM CASTLES VS. GOLF AND WIVES AND DON'T FORGET AL CAPONE

  I know, looking at the title must make you think I've really jumped the shark. Or perhaps it is a sign of end of the world warning, in a most serious intent. That occurs when a person of great power, one who can indeed blow up this planet, literally and figuratively, gives a commencement exercise speech at West Point, the institution which provides most of the cadre officers of our army, which is patently insane. 

Worse is that there are those among that cadre who applauded him. Even worse is that this is not a stand-out moment in being an unusual event, for, in fact, over the past week alone, this man has given us more insanity than any other in his position. If that does not make you lose sleep, well, then you are the lucky one, able to ignore the warning, glaring and blaring. 

If this were an episode of Life with Donny, it might even dredge up some laughter and a thank G-d or two that it is only TV, but this is scarily real life. The man is nuts, a genius in his own mind and eerily able to convince and/or frighten other governmental employees, for that is really all that he is, into following his bizarre and dangerous plans. A la Hitler and any other dictator or wannabe of history. 

The man is nuts. Patently so. It is ironic that he accused Biden of dementia and hello, where are the obvious calls re his dangerous level of dementia? It is at a point where children should be worrying about Papa, taking steps to ensure that he does no harm to himself nor to others. Or perhaps his children in this case are equally as limited and twisted as their sire. No help there, none at all.     

 At present and unfortunately into the foreseeable future, this man and his cohorts, along with the governmental employees and pathetic unqualified advisers and appointees to government offices, all who have been somehow beaten into submission, craven cowardly toadies, from top to bottom, are now plotting our rather abysmal future. 

Markets round the world will crash, are already showing cracks in the understructure, inflation on the rise, no end in sight.. But do not worry for him and his, for his "Great Big Bill", will see to their welfare. There will be a redistribution of wealth, from the poor, the slightly better off and the struggling middle class, to the already sinfully, ostentatiously wealthy, a shift unseen since time began.

No protesters as we will all be busy trying to keep skin and bones together, to feed the kids, to keep a roof with no leaks over our heads, and barter for health needs, so much more now given the terrible environment and the lack of proper diet. 

Do not look to the rest of the world to help, for the world we know will be long gone, pushed and twisted into hostile and frightened format due  to the machinations of that demented soul. He has used threats, no boundaries, nothing off the table, and keeps all under control, no one sure of figuring him out, the level of his dementia and speed of further deterioration, and simply how to deal with a man of no boundaries and a natural bent for cruelty. Always petulant, a second or two away from yet another tantrum along with outbursts of anger fed by his increasing fall into the dark world of dementia. How and why did we ignore all the signs? Or rather, how did so many ignore the signs, shut down the Cassandras calling out high pitched warnings?? 

Why did we accept the takeover of the government, its shredding, the blatant disregard and disrespect     of and for the Constitution, the negation of our rights? How and why? Why did we ignore thr dictator government by Executive Orders and Directives, bypassing and collapsing the very structure of this nation? Where were we when the honest uncompromised judges were permanently adjourned and reassigned to new positions of ignominy and penury?     

This manchild, a spoiled brat in the bloated body of a man increasingly possessed of and by his dementia has attempted to rewrite history. He has instructed historians and textbook publishers to erase any mention of his first violent attempt on that infamous Jan6.  He has cancelled all reforms and civil rights, championed his version of Christianity and conflated religion with public education.

This is no longer your parents' America. We allowed that to be interred. All is not lost yet. Demonstrations and protests are already taking place. Watch for events of June 14, the very day Donny has chosen to initia ate huge expensive parade for his birthday. Spoiled child with deteriorating body, soul and mind.

Speak up. Speak out. Champion our America, the one of nobility and effort. Not the America of a man who plays games in the Oval Office, who insults and lies to diplomats of other nations, who chooses a demented portrait for an official presential one, who sells the power and dignity and honesty of the Office of President of the United States of  America to fill his pockets,  violating laws, and not to forget that he is an indicted felon of many charges.

Folks, time is going by, fast and faster. If we wish to salvage truth, good, bad and indifferent, all the yesterdays, guarantee our  todays and insure good tomorrows, we must wake up and participate,  protest, make your displeasure known.

 Peacefully. Legally. 

The future is ours - if we so will it. 

And when the NYT praises that demented speech of wives and golf and Al Capone, there is something seriously awry within the marrow of the bones of our nation.

We had better pay close attention before we lose it all. 

Say it ain't so, NYT. Say it ain't so.    

DEAR FRIEND,

  If and when you read this letter you will know I am speaking to you. You are a brilliant woman with a superior intellect and have so proven via your many books and important projects which you undertook. Many, in fact, have benefited from them. You were brave and bold in your work; However, I am troubled by a recent stance regarding the State of Israel and the state of its people, its citizens, our people.

We both attended the same high school, grew up in the same neighborhood, albeit I have a few more   years under my belt.  We have corresponded and I have followed your sites and works.  We are essentially the same in background, at least on the outside. I heard and continue to hear what you wrote and can make no judgment.  I was not inside that closed door. However, I know that there is an anger dormant within, and I believe that anger has been eating away at your peace of mind for decades. 

Nor do I know whether you have attempted to address it or not. Again, I don't know, and it's not my business, but I do believe that your hurts, your anger have come to the surface, seeking outlets. And finding the wrong ones, the wrong targets.   Even as you bring forth words of disappointment or anger or concern or condemnation, it will not relieve that anger. In fact, I think that unless it is addressed directly no holds barred along with a support system, it won't go away and the feelings about which you wrote will not go away

Why subject yourself to nasty comments when you write your opinion about what you have the absolute right to bring forth? However, as we learned in high school, in elementary school, that when one is disappointed in something and goes to an extreme to address that disappointment, or whatever it is masking in order to get to the right path, one must go to the other extreme, which I  think you have, and finally, come down to the middle, the Golden path, the Golden Way, rational, centrist, able to hear both sides of an argument and deal with it. Without nasty words, without tempers exploding. And with understanding

So here is the topic of which you have been writing very much of late. And that is as it should be, for we all are Jews, be we in Galut or in our homeland, and yes, it is our homeland, now and forever. We must all be concerned for what affects one Jew inevitably, indubitably, will affect all other Jews. Hate moves quickly over oceans and over mountains. Hate finds homes in the crooked hearts of those who only wish the worst upon those they hate, who claim unrealistic and historically inaccurate facts, and that hate grows with deeper roots, illogical at times, many times, growing in vitriol and exploding with desire to wreak havoc, shed blood and horrify and demoralize the enemy. They do so in the name of whatever excuse is ginned up, or even no excuse at all, an exponential factor of hate or simply put, hate on crack. 

Those who claim to be Palestinians pull out their bank of excuses. They claim that, once upon a time they lived in a land of milk and honey where every family had its own beautiful home, shaded by the trees of oranges and dates with terrace farming all around. Truly a land which gave forth a wondrous bounty and to prove all this, inevitably, emerges the rusty key. I'm not quite sure why every single key is rusty, but perhaps one of the projects that can be undertaken is to literally delve into the mystery of these keys, for they are a dime a dozen in 'antique' stores. I too have an iron key someplace in my house, in my American home, not my Israeli house, bought many, many years ago. No home found.   

But let's look at the truth here. Mark Twain, Lord Oliphant from England, and many others traveled through the Holy Land, as they called it, quite popular to do so at that time. They make no mention of those Edenic properties. The land of milk and honey - oops, not quite. Mark Twain called it the land with sackcloth for the Lord has deserted it and will not be rejuvenated until its people - Jews - return. How quaint, how accurate.

Where did all of these claimed Palestinian farmers originate?  They originated under the rule of the Turkish Ottoman Empire. Knowing this area needed population, to be modernized, the population came about via invitation, presentation as a way out of the life of poverty in the lands of Arabia, and for Jews needing out of the hopelessness of Europe and so they came. Jews bought land, much from absent effendis of greater Syria, worked hard, failed and succeeded, and built a land, a home, replete with a prosperous agriculture sector and built cities from sand dunes, rejuvenated small villages into thriving centers. And here we are today. Fighting over this land.

 One side craving peace, singing songs of peace and building the land they had never deserted. At the ready to fight for it, to defend it. The other side, hungry for perhaps a better future, or in obeyance to their effendi employers, came as well, but did not invest the same way, did not do the work necessary, or were kept down by their masters. The same opportunities. One side prospered, the other did not, for the most part. 

Actually, they have continued to waste  billions of dollars afforded to them, poured those funds into fancy homes for 'leaders', into tunnels of death, into training of terrorists, cultivating a culture of hate, into stockpiles of arms rather than investing these funds into a true education, into agriculture, into industry.  They chose a life of jihad and shaheed,   of fedayeen and terrorist, a culture of death and waste of opportunities. Jews invested in effort and money and passion to turn this nation covered in sackcloth back into a nation, a land of milk and honey, as promised.

There was cooperation and there was lack of cooperation. There were times of cold war and of hot, of outright warfare, declared or not.  Funds deliberately wasted in corruption and its disastrous results, ever feeding them a diet of false claims of always having been there, be it Gaza or Judea and Samaria or Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.  

From the time of Aliyah Bet and the bloody opposition of  Arabia,  the attacks of the 1880s, to the slaughter in Hebron of 1929, to  the consistent attacks till WWII where they bargained and colluded with Hitler, to the lost at Yad Mordechai, the slaughter of Jews of Old Jerusalem, of Gush Etzion, of medical personnel trying to reach Hadassah Hospital - as agreed to - dead, in vicious attack. All through the years, constant attempts to destroy the nation State of Israel. 

Through multiple wars waged against the State of Israel, a bloody history till we reach October 7, 2023. A day of massacre, of barbaric slaughter of children, of elderly, of women, of the ill, burned, butchered, torched and tortured, abused and held as hostages in conditions rivaling those of the concentration camps of Nazi Germany. All enabled and condoned by many nations of the world. The loss of life, the violent shedding of Jewish blood, shrugged off, part of the cost of doing business.  From the world, from the UN, from the Red Cross - dead silence unless it is to scold and threaten Israel, again and again, to ignore - or even cheer on.

 It was at this point in time that the State of Israel became known as the Jewish State of Israel, distinguished from all other nations in the world. A vicious spiral, toxic rising tide of Anti Semitism, of deep JewHatred surfaced from its stinking holes, well planned, well controlled and coordinated,   funded by Iran, manned by the thousands of Hamas terrorists, their 'not so innocent civilians' who joined in the "fun” of October 7, the Houties,   Hezbollah. Hate round the world, in motion and planning for years, attempts and successes in co-opting universities and stupid kids who know naught of what they are buying into, nourishing with their participation.   

Once again, the world stands by as oral, vocal, loud and ugly prejudice grows in volume and threat until it reaches the inevitable level of death, not 'merely' to the citizens of Israel,  but to Jews round the world - legal prey, apparently, for nothing happens other than a 5-minute piece  on the news, if that long, and then, well, life moves on, does it not. The crocodile tears of the leaders dry up and then - the next hit and the next with no end in sight.  

Now, there is an almost complete denial of reality as to who started this war and what has happened as a result. Criminal barbaric savage behavior of Hamas and supporters, engaged in the brutal kidnapping of civilians and young soldiers to an existence in hell. Flaunted in the face of the world and hear back ... Silence.     

From time immemorial, Arabs and their allies and enablers have attacked Israel. It did not come overnight.  Fedayeen. Terrorists. Shaheed. The name matters not, only the awful results and the silence is deafening. By name or anonymous, it matters not a whit.  

In fact, Arabs have been attacking Israel, refusing honest negotiations, refusing all offers, always seeking pity and approval, using gross falsehoods in the quest for more funding.  Their true intent is not for a piece of land but for all the land. No more Israel, and perhaps no more Jews. There is no other reason why they refused to accept the offers. They claim they want land for peace, but even when they had land, it was used as a base for terrorism. There was no peace; they want no peace, no actual peace.

Your Palestinian friends, some of whom may actually want peace, ask them to condemn October 7th. Ask them to publicly admit that Hamas started the war. Ask them to publicly admit that Hamas is guilty of war crimes. Ask them to condemn the taking of hostages and the treatment given to them   during their horrific imprisonment. Held in cages, chained, starved, beaten, lied to in every which way possible. Ask your Palestinian friends to admit to this.

Nobody in their right mind condones the killing of innocent civilians. But those who ran after the   initial terrorists, shrieking, shooting their guns off, boasting to their parents how many Jews they killed, how many cars they're bringing back, how much clothing, how many radios, how many TVS they are bringing home, how many lies have they brought forth? From October 8th on inevitable famine predicted -   two days coming, 6 weeks coming, soon upon us, soon, a few weeks, now a few months - actually - never. There are no 40,000+ babies in danger. Packs and packs of lies.

Has the government of Israel, the army of Israel, made some errors? For sure they have. No war can be fought perfectly. War itself is imperfect. It is a failure of human beings. However, it is not for the instigator of the war, nor the loser in the war to dictate terms to the victor. It is not for them to demand thousands of terrorists be released for one hostage. There is no other nation, no other army, that knocks on roofs, that sends down pamphlets, that calls people on the phone that do everything they can to warn people, to leave the area, to go far from it, from the leaders, the remnants of Hamas, cowering in abject fear for their lives.  Cowards hiding behind the captives, using civilians as weapons of war, even as they do with mosques, hospitals, centers, schools, private homes, and the  callous use of children as shields and messengers.   

So yes, we admit mistakes, more civilians killed, caught, no, deliberately placed in the crossfire.     But who put them in a continuous chain of perils of Pauline? Who used civilian infrastructure as basis for aggression and murder?  Who is it that demands that Israel be punished and ostracized, deemed a pariah among nations. Why? For defending itself? Wishing to prevent another such massive massacre?  We grieve our errors. Now have your friends, your women friends, your women Palestinian friends, admit to the wrongs done on their side. Ask them to answer honestly. Would you be willing to share in a nation that is a Jewish state. Why it is so terrible to be called a Jewish state? In fact, maybe it is, because though we used to be the State of Israel. now we are the Jewish State of Israel.

Is there something wrong in being a Jew? I hope not. I think not .But in your letters, in your essays, well written, passionate, but many times there is  a feeling that comes across, that you are ashamed of being Jewish. That you would accept claims against the Jewish people, Way over and above and beyond claims launched against those who would kill them. Do you understand that the vociferous outpouring of Israelis who shout of what they know not embolden  and strengthen our enemies?

This campaign began years ago, infiltrated the colleges and universities with professors and assistants who spout forth the Arab view and vigorously condemn and accuse Israel of terrible deeds.  The Moslem view who say "Allahu Akbar" when they heard of October 7. Who come here to this country to 'study', as one is here since 2008. Studying? Really? Is he that dumb, or are we?    There is a purpose behind it all, a managing hand behind all the tents that came out at the same time. All the signs that came out at the same time. All the   chants of hate and provocation?  All the face masks and kaffiyahs making their appearance at the same time?  No, there is definitely a devilish genius behind this plot of interference with our national ethos, of hate and provocation. I think there is truly deep organizational interference.

When one reaches this side of life and delves into one's being, one often finds that opinions once held fiercely, unequivocally, in younger years, have changed. Some have gone away totally. Others have morphed. They become gentler. Some have become not so gentle. The changes can confuse one for how did this happen and how did we not notice? We begin to question ourselves, overwhelm our confidence and certainty. It ties our hands and feet and mind and thoughts. 

At times depression can follow. One cuts oneself off from society at large, wishing to talk to no one. We allow feelings of confusion and disconcertment to surface. We take on and buoy some inappropriate thoughts, so far removed from who we are.

 Think, my friend of passion and big heart, think. You are so bright, a brilliant writer, possessed of an excellent education and background. Why then allow others to take over your assets and tell you they have the same dream as you, as we all do. Yes, we have extremists, and they should shut up, so inappropriate and demoralizing although they do have the right to speak. But every time we say crazy things, either on the left or the right we are only shooting ourselves in the foot. At this point in time you are one of those misaiming, demoralizing for both the right and the wrong reasons. Do not negate yourself in the hopes of finding another place for yourself. You already have a wonderful place. You already have a high opinion held about you, for all that you have done. Why throw it away? Take a step back. Ask questions. Write of productive ideas and criticisms. Talk softly, softly for when we shout at  people,  they do not hear what we have to say. That  is a tragedy on and for all sides.

I wish you only good health, a free and flying high spirit, and a continuation of the positive career as a writer and social critic. You have given much to the world through your writing. Do not trash it all with a fierce not totally thought-out attack on your own people. We are not perfect and for sure, neither are our foes. Follow your current thread of thought. all the issues that might be complicating clarity.

Our Arab citizens are well interwoven into the fabric of the life of the state of Israel.  They walk and work freely among us. We must condemn the viral contagion of extremism on both ends of the political spectrum.

 Think. Yesterday, today, and tomorrow are contingent upon each other. We cannot rip them apart, asunder, shred our history. No way. No how.

Come back to us. We miss you,

AND WHENCE?

  Indeed, in deed, in life, where do we go? Is there in fact any place to go? I, along with so many others, are tired, an exhaustion beyond comprehension to those who have not faced this reality, who have not walked down the street with swiveling head and hurrying feet, especially so when walking hand in hand with a child. Who's around? Where is the next person crazed with hate? Will someone jump out of a doorway? Shoot from a window? Or come screaming for the death of that child, all the children of Israel? Will I be able to save the child and myself? And then what? And then what?     

But it is not just this child, this imaginary, not so imaginary child. The answer to the question of the title "And whence?" is really hence, and forever, seemingly indelibly inked in the minds of those who already feel it or see nothing wrong in it. Or, in fact, perhaps is quite positive even now in their minds. And what is the hence the whence of it all? It is yesterday. It is today; it is tomorrow. It is the foreseeable future or perhaps there are those who intend to make it no future at all. And I am tired. So very tired. How many millennia will it take to extirpate the roots of violence, of mayhem and murder? How many more millennia will it take to rid the world of this most energized, JewHatred? Evidently the number of millennia has not yet been reached, and the bold and blatant question is - will it ever be reached?

Yesterday was a brutal day. It took the lives of yet two more beautiful young people on the verge of a life together, serving people, all people. Now gone, their families bereft, their people mourning and grieving with them. Gone. Yet another manifestation of the oldest theme of persecution and approval of murder. A manifestation that was and is inevitable, given the world's attitude and viral endemic hatred that thrives on bloodlust and bloodshed. Are the centuries not enough? Has not the thirst for blood ever been quenched? Or has it hidden, barely beneath the surface, at the ready for that propitious moment, barely a flick of a moment, to uncover it all? A bursting forth of vigor, opened in the air, rejoicing in its newfound freedom, given life in a no holds barred world? Anything and everything from vitriol to slaughter condoned and even praised. Make no mistake about it, for when official members of governments round the world speak mealymouthed words carrying no truth or emotion, no real anger or outrage within, when the world so eager to condemn Israel remains silent at the shooting of two young diplomats, what is there to say? 

Or do they feel a sense of relief that it did not occur to their people, their nation? No, it doesn't work that way. Hate when released from a bottle with stopper cracked and inefficient, the contents burst forth with no distinction, no separation. Hate is patient, bides its time, until it is time for another violent explosion of savage hate. When will that next hate arise?  When the Jews of the world, not only of Israel, will be eliminated. When there will be no more a Jewish question, no need for a final solution updated. Then the haters will find themselves hated and chased around the world. Condemned to wander, condemned to find no place of home and safety. Do not think otherwise, for hatred never dies. It simply morphs from here to there and from there to here and back again.

Yesterday was brutal for another reason, a first cousin to yesterday's horror. Yesterday we spent an entire day in a private tour, no, not a tour. That is for enjoyment. A journey of hate, of evil, of blackness of soul so dense that there is no light ever passing through. 2023. Nineteen months. Of hate. Of intent to dismantle not merely, only, the State of Israel, our eternal, ancestral home from whence we were exiled so many millennia ago. To which we have always been connected to, with every beat of our heart. With every tendon and ligament of body. With every ounce of our souls. Never abandoning it, Jewish people always in residence, always venturing via dangerous roads to see, visit with prayer and dream, to see their ancient homeland and to ask, when?  

The remnants of the holiest place, the Temple. The graves of our matriarchs and patriarchs. To walk the land of our ancestors and our descendants denied to us. But we persist, insist, that we are home in that land. Not the Kingdom of Judea or the Kingdom of Israel, but now the State of Israel, the state of all Jews, the defender of Jews worldwide, our Home.  Our haven of safety, or so we thought. 

So we thought wrong. So blind to the continuing reality, of a violence and viciousness that never dissipates. Never even seems to lessen. Always waiting there for a moment of freedom to wreak havoc and grief upon the face of this earth. The more Jews caught up in this violence, the more visions of a positive future disappear, fade into the ether. The happier these perpetrators of hate are, the more successful they become. The more attractive the lure to others who join in and wallow in the blood of more Jews, who celebrate the slaughter of men, women and children, who boast of the Jews they killed and the items they stole. Or the vicious way in which they imposed death upon their victims: burning them alive, wiring them together, shooting parents in front of their children and children in front of their parents. Manually strangling babies and torturing young men and young women, refusing to release the kidnapped victims of brutal, rampant, never ending, purposely taught hatred and incentive to violence, to slaughter. and to spread that round the world. No holds barred.

There I was, returned to the place of slaughter. The killing fields of a dance festival of the young and the not so young, celebrating life, celebrating the beauties of nature, the rising of the sun, a feeling of togetherness. Suddenly all shattered by rockets from the sky and guns and knives, armored trucks and the screams of the victims confused. For this cannot happen, not in 2023! But yes, it can and yes, it will, always be so unless the hypocritical voices of the world finally and honestly, admit their complicity. The activation and reactivation of this hatred will persist until they speak up with words of meaning and power, and act upon those words rather than the reaction of mealymouthed words which mean nothing. Which carry no meaning, no intent to do anything about this. An even more empowered JewHatred, once condoned, unfolds itself dripping venom. In their silence, their refusal to condemn without rationalizing, they endorse it. Complete and total destruction of the State of Israel. The dispersal, or better yet, the slaughter of all Jews within those borders and then all Jews without, in the borders of other nation states who inevitably turn their back on citizens. And why? Because they are Jews.

And so yesterday I cried. All day. And all night I tossed and turned. Is the fate of those 400 slaughtered on October 7th and until now, and on and on, as Israel fights for its very existence, to be the forerunner of more? Slaughter, rape, kidnapping. Is this fate, the fate awaiting all of our young as they venture into an unforeseeable future? Is it to be that in our death is the vindication for this ugliness of mankind that people of the world now rejoice and reflect? Blame the victims as   instigators? As deserving this fate?  For merely living their lives?   

Does it end? Does it ever end? Are our children of three and six and ten to cower in fear and silence, a silence internalized and passed down to them via a traumatic genetic trail? Knowing, by instinct, not to cry, not to move, but to stay deeply immersed in a silence deep on the outside even as the insides are screaming, crying, without end, without hope.

Why are people who violate brutally the integrity of a nation praised for doing so? Why are their lies rationalized and accepted? Why are their brutal actions and intents praised, excused. All reality distorted and diffused, for reality is unpleasant to the people of the world. It is that reality they reject, for it reflects who they are right back at them.          It is a reality where 20 young people inside an ambulance with a big Red Cross on it are fragged with grenades, bathed in a sea of bullets and insured of death by a fire infused with chemicals, so fierce in power that it took months to fully confirm who were the victims of those ambulances. Who were the victims torched in the dumpster in which they were hiding from the animals who desired to rip them from their lives? 

The entire world needs to be walked through the consequences of this hate, which they have condoned, even praised, just as the people of Germany around the concentration camps were walked through that world of shadows and danger. A world of bloody hatred of the worst of mankind. The world needs to understand what they have allowed. To be assigned a victim and have them live their lives up to and including the ending of it or to the not ending of but a world of continued starvation and torture. Perhaps then, maybe then, if then, this demonic hatred and behavior will end.

Lord God, we screamed to you from down here. We Your people are desperate. We need to know why. Why again? Why again and again? When will the perpetrators of this slaughter reach the end of their lives and be awarded the righteous and rightful, well-deserved consequences - over and over. Equally as over and over we prayed to You, believed in You, and continue to do so.  Where are the words of Your promise, as You gaze down upon the earth, upon Your creations, at those who were so busily engaged in the slaughter of Your children, Your people, Your servants, Your subjects, as You promised us that our blood will not be spilled in vain nor be unavenged.

Lord God in Heaven do You not think the time has come?  Do You not think the time has been reached to return these 'favors', tenfold, a hundredfold upon them? And yes, I know that I will be condemned with these thoughts for we are not to expect revenge. Not in this oh so civilized world. No, we are supposed to be above it, always worrying about the rest of the world. Always concerned about their safety. Their benefit. Their pleasant lives. But when, dear Lord, when can we say enough? When is it enough? When? When? When? When is it our turn?

Has not the blood spilled on all our yesterdays not been enough? How are bloody todays not been enough to protect and ensure our tomorrows. Or is there more to follow, ever to follow.

Lord God I am tired. Oh, so tired in body and soul and heart. I don't want to spend the day lighting memorial candles. Watering the ground with my tears as I walked among friends and family still weeping for their brutally slaughtered. We are told "Ani encome damam." That You will avenge the blood of Your children.  God, when is enough, when will the world stop condemning us when we fight for the lives of those who cannot any longer? As we fight to maintain our integrity as a nation state, an equal among equals. As deserving of life. 

We are beyond sad. We are torn this way and that. Even as our enemies rejoice. Even as once so-called allies and friends of the State of Israel, as respecter of their own Jewish citizens turn their backs upon us all. Their motivations as dirty as their souls.

I leave today's posting with these words of another. Read them. Hear them. Feel them. Know them.

"Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt posted to X, “We still are confirming details of this heinous crime, but this shooting strikes a nerve because it comes after an unrelenting, ongoing campaign of hate and harassment targeting the Jewish community simply because of who we are and what we believe. Our hearts break for the families of those who were murdered even as our will hardens in the face of those who threaten us. What they fail to grasp is that we will not be intimidated.”

We know that, even as the words of the Shemah from the dying and the fields of slaughter in Israel and round the world fly to the Heavens, accompanying the holy souls of our martyred, even as these words of faith and belief and trust fly alongside, we shout and cry and plead. The Lord our God, the Lord is One with our dying breaths.

We have not forsaken You. Do not forsake us.  

Avenge our blood crying from the earth below.

Keep the truth of

Am Yisroel chai. Lanetzach.

The People of Israel live - Forever.

Amen. Selah.

NOPE. SORRY. CANNOT. FOR SURE.

  Of what exactly am I so confident that I could deny it 4 times. Well, interestingly enough, at least to me, is the rather startling situation in which I find myself. There is very little anymore under this sun that I am positive about, 100% confident in my confidence that I know of what I speak. That I know of what I say I know. And that I know what I do not know. However, the question then arises: how the heck do I know what I don't know if I don't know and what do I do about this blank space in a continuum of knowledge possessed and, in enough confidence, to voice an opinion about it? The answer is - I do not know.

Unfortunately, this situation is ever more prevalent these days. Books of Knowledge if printed today would be multiplied in number of volumes, in pages of content, and forever in editing for corrections and adjustments. So quickly are we accumulating knowledge, so much of which we had no inkling of any possible existence, that we remain clueless about it, until suddenly it was here before our very eyes and our strained and stretched minds.  

Perhaps we had already decided that we knew everything we needed to know about any topic under the sun and then closed up shop as to curiosity and storability. There is so much more these days about which we do not know about, which we cannot absolutely drive through to a relevant and confident opinion and conclusion. However, we sure as shootin' don't have any problem about voicing our authoritative statement for all to accept. An opinion of end of discussion certainty. When challenged by others possessing more relevant and up to to date information possibly leading to a conclusion oppositional to ours, we G-d forbid cede the point. More commonly, we generally become quite indignant and proceed full speed ahead sans thought, determined to prove ourselves right. Thus, we achieve the rather dubious distinction of claiming the title of Luddite as we present our ignorance to the world at large. 

The problem here is that we have become arrogant in our ignorance. We are so sure we are sure about that we which we do not know, in fact, we do not actually know what we do not know. Furthermore, if we do not know what it is that we do not know, if we have never heard of it before, then how in fact are we to address that rather gaping chasm and backup at our intake valve. If we have not delved into the matter at hand, then why do we insist oh so positively that we know that of which we actually know nothing at all or the very minimum, certainly not enough to generate a well-informed opinion and conclusion. . 

  The righteous answer is to admit ignorance and/or insufficient info and/or experience and determine to make an effort to better inform yourself of that which you are so abysmally lacking at this point. 

Is it even possible today for one brain to keep safely intact within those limited gray cells all that we need to know in a swiftly changing world? What is more, what is one to do when a trusted source of advanced knowledge also runs into a brick wall difficult, perhaps impossible, to surmount or detour round it?  Do we then throw our hands up in the air? Turn away upset at being challenged, ashamed that we know not but insist that we do? 

 The best effort is to better inform yourself of that which you are so abysmally lacking at this point. The absolute worst is to ignore it all within yourself and within those whom you have championed,  looked upon as a role model and source of information. You must find another pathway to certainty. 

Openly and honestly speaking, you must acknowledge that most of us do not do that. We shake our heads, throw our hands up in resignation and go ahead. We say we are tired of it all. And say I can't do anything about it so I won't. But my friends that is so the wrong way to choose There is a path leading only to further ignorance, further falling behind, until there is no which way we can catch up. We drag along with us 8 balls of ignorance which cannot be cut loose. Furthermore, to our shame, unacknowledged ignorance and our persistence in remaining in the ignoramus club as we refuse to admit that we have gone wrong somewhere along the line and must fix it before it is too late.

Here is one example, and I will leave it at that. For years, people have been saying that Joe Biden had a form of dementia. Perhaps at his age it would not be unusual. Certainly I admit that my brain at today's age is not the same as it was when I was 30 or 40 or 50 or even 60. Neither is yours or most people. It is a natural path of occurrence. However, when one of t whose dementia is obvious, so blatant, as are the reactions and the behavior and demeanor of a Donald Trump, then we too, are engaging in creating false basis of drawing conclusions. When a man sputters and stutters, not because he cannot pronounce or twist his tongue around the letter. It is that he does not know the facts. Then we have trouble right here in River City. Immediate.

Ever increasing in occurrence, every day, is the ignorance of Donald Trump who perhaps never listened to the teacher in school or, more likely, or perhaps both, he is undergoing and has been undergoing for quite some time a serious onset and development of dementia. That diagnosis is an explanation of his behavior, his statements, his lack of statements, his evident ignorance, particularly of history and his inability to cancel outhis mouth or his mind. Here is one of the most recent, and then you, please go delve into this situation.

In response to a question from a reporter late Tuesday afternoon about Russian military buildup along the NATO borders of Finland and Norway, President Trump replied, "No. I don't worry about that at all. It'll be very safe. Those are two countries, you're gonna be very safe."

Say what?

Trump directed everyone to look at the portraits around his desk. He named the first two Presidents no problem, but then began to stutter when he got to Monroe.

"That's Monroe from the ... uh ... Monroe docu... document," Trump finally said. Unlike Joe Biden, who always had a stutter, the sudden inability to recall elementary school facts about the Monroe Doctrine has sparked new fears of his mental state online."

Guess I am not the only one troubled about this.

Where the hell are the rest of you?

This is your country and mine. This is a country that is supposed to set the pace to and for the world and what would that pace be at present? Whether we look at the yesterdays, the todays, or evaluate the quality of tomorrows, time to wake up. Time, way past time, to inform ourselves, yourselves, of the truth of the peril awaiting. If we do not see and act, if we claim we do not hear the ticking of the hands on that Midnight Clock, the Doomsday Clock, for sure we have ceded control of the lunatic asylum, otherwise known as the modern world, for sure, to     the inmates and negated the sane. 

I hope not. Do I know not?

Nope. Sorry. Cannot. For sure. 

What I do know for sure is that demented Presidents appoint ignorant perhaps equally mentally challenged officers of the government - yours and mine -who vow that 

"Habeas Corpus Is A Constitutional Right That The President Has"

Uh, that would be a Constitutional Right of and for All Americans. No Executive Order on this one. Tsk, tsk, Kristi Noem, our Homeland Security Secretary.  Oy!!

Start Worrying. Now. For sure.

Double down on that OY!! For sure. 

GIMME A BREAK!!!

  I wonder how it is that people can find time to discuss how the future is going to work out for a group of people when there is almost a totally diametrical opposition between one view and the other. How is it that one contention is that Jews are on the threshold of a renaissance, one of social contributions particularly in the field of Arts and Creativity but not limited to that. In other words, to be sidelined in relevance, for art and creativity do not decide the gestalt of a society but rather hangs around the perimeter. That is not to debase the importance of the creative arts but to understand its limits. As an amateur late come to the party of exploratory artists, I say this with no insult in intent, only a recognition of reality. They do not determine the direction of society but can play a strong role in support or opposition of and to the path chosen.

 The other contention is that we are so riven and driven by contrasting opinions that there is no hope other than just about a war between these two oppositional sides within Judaism or world Jewry. One is a doom and gloom view and prediction. We will argue ourselves to death or weaken ourselves to the point of irrelevancy. The other is a Pollyannaish rose shaded version of what maybe should be or could be. Perhaps, though, it assumes that people can raise themselves above disagreements, large and small, and commit themselves to a shared productive path and outlook. Huh!!

Remember, we are speaking of world Jewry, that rather amorphous crowd of individuals Jews who cannot agree on the basic elemental question of exactly who is a Jew, nor of the qualifications necessary to be included in that rather dangerous determination. In fact, if anyone can point out such a time when there was a complete agreement on this topic or indeed any other of primary importance for the Jewish people well, I would be highly shocked and skeptical. 

  Furthermore, there is a great big hole in either of these viewpoints for it takes not into consideration the attitudes and definitions prominent in the world outside of the world of Jewry. That world generally places its opinions and definitions in positions of higher relevancy and importance. Too often opinions, conclusions and definitions from within that world of Jewry are deemed of lesser importance and relevance; hence, they are discarded along the wayside. Too often, important figures within the world of Jewry are coopted into testifying in support of one opinion or another. Thus, we are quite inimical to the integrity of our structure and definition of the Jewish people. Not a good situation, but apparently, one in which we are forever entangled, all the weaker for it. 

Why we persist in this is a question which has never received an answer. Even if well-meant, even if thought to be the calming of rather rough waters, we would be and should be  quite cautious in an endorsement of one opinion over another, for too often within those calling for opinions from you, about you, there are  indeed those who are supportive and those who would seed the rot from within, sit back and enjoy the disharmony emerging from an entity which is much better off remaining in at least a state of general agreement rather than airing it all out to those with harm in mind. 

The bottom line of the situation above is a growth of self-hatred, a denser fog of confusion and a growth and increase in the numbers of those who do not know where they should stand, do not know where they are standing. Nobody understands the harm that they are doing to themselves, to their people, all in the name of finding and or creating a place for themselves - in a place where they should not be at all. The atmosphere is so rank with anger and instinctual response, so without thought, that even the unarguable which should not be a source of debate, becomes a major source of contention and antagonism. All the while, our enemies sit back and chortle away, holding their sides in glee.

It used to be that what happens inside the home is kept inside the home, not to be aired for public consumption, good, bad or indifferent. It meant that Jews conducted discussions on points of disagreement within themselves, providing no ammunition for their foes. Somewhere along the line we forgot about that, and we went about seeking support for one side or another from those outside the world, a dangerous policy, very dangerous, for where there is a crack one can lever that crack until it becomes an abyss and the unity of the people, so greatly needed, is destroyed.

Yes, some interference cannot be avoided for the topic is of worldwide significance, such as the kidnapping and imprisonment, the torturing of non-combatants and soldiers taken.  Debate is raging but it is our people who suffer the consequences. Our people whose humanity is discounted. Our people whose fate has become a ping pong ball caught in not so warm and welcoming hands of others than ourselves. Why do we allow this? Why do we not tell them to either take the side of right, of humanity, or just buzz off. We will solve our problems in our own way and in our own time. But we do not and allow thusly for our enemies to pick at a hole they have created, enlarge it to dangerous proportions, and we have ceded control over our own lives and why? Because we allowed the discussion to emerge from within our homes, allowed the door to remain open, and others entered, much to our dismay and harm. Very much so. And we cannot rid ourselves of their interference and the harm they pose and have created for us. 

Too often within the crowds of those forcing their way through our doors there are those who would help, they hope, and those who have patiently bided their time until such a moment, a time of supported interference, their purposes clear, yet they remain obscured, unseen in the eyes of the world. We are deemed intransigent, at the base of all the problems and would we merely listen to those seeking peace, preferably via our termination, all would be well for the world. As for us, well, that is for another time, perhaps more propitious for an outcome. But for whom? Certainly not for us. When would that possibly better time be? Dead silence is the answer.   Always so, forever so, much to the perilous state of our being, our existing, among the peoples of the world. 

Caught up in this cacophony of hate and toxic homicidal motivations, we lose sight of who we are, where we are and what we are. Too many damage their souls and fall prey to false arguments so beguiling, so comforting to those who are tired of the rank and hostile atmosphere around themselves. By joining the enemy, accepting their offers, negating ourselves, our history, our destiny, in the hopes for easier times, we are instead finding ourselves inside the rather unwelcoming arms of Iron Maidens. Too late to turn back, we now serve the enemy as they display the deserters before the world, "proof" of their views as righteous, along with invitation to join in with their cause.   

Where and when does this end? Where and when do we understand that we must stand together. For if not ......

We must think ahead, and we must think behind. We must remember our yesterdays, the lessons learned from them and apply them to better tomorrows. Our todays will be the better for that effort and understanding, for with the proper use of yesterday, we will better the todays and enable brighter tomorrows. It is upon us to seek to improve the world. To leave it a better place for our being in and of it. No matter how deep and widespread the opposition is. 

If we remember whatever the disagreement, whatever the side championed, always there must be the reminder that we are one nation, one people, one State of Israel to support even as it supports us.  With that in mind we can fulfill our responsibilities on this earth. 

By being true to the truths of our yesterdays, our todays and our tomorrows, we will remain true to ourselves and our people - and to the world.

So, world, gimme a break. Give my people a break for a change.

There will be no posting tomorrow due to a celebration. Be back on Wednesday.