PLANET EARTH

 Have you ever wondered over the past five months if you had actually fallen off Planet Earth? I would not blame you if you had indeed thought so, for we were certainly in a strange, mostly unrecognized territory. How did we get there? Why had we not noticed signs of an impending voyage and had we agreed to take part in this voyage? In fact, what are the terms of this trip, voluntary or involuntary, for could we return if we did not find this new planet to our liking? 

In point of fact, we have apparently been here for 162 days, and the situation has only gotten worse. It has deteriorated into a place of inevitable hopelessness, the only release to be found in death.  Why are we here, in this dank, airless place of darkness and oppression? Have we been chosen or punished or volunteered for some nasty project?   Is there an end to it and what would that date be? Could we hurry it up? 

In reality, an ever-uglier reality, we find ourselves on Planet Earth, yet an almost unrecognizable one. In fact, it most resembles a planet we had long ago thought gone. The world struggled, mightily, to forget that planet, its evil, its worst of mankind. Some even denied its truth and horror for their own twisted reasons. Its lessons so needful to be taught and internalized were discarded, too uncomfortable to remember, to keep alive.   

Once again humanity has subscribed to the wrong leaders, those who lead us astray, for whatever reason they tout. We now have quite a successful reincarnation of Planet Cold Crematorium, a neighbor to Planet Auschwitz, along with myriad satellites and moons. all circling the center planets, suffused with ugliness and terror, hate contaminating the very air. It is a place of hopelessness, death seemingly the sole release.

Our world, the Planet Earth, has ceded ground to the aliens of those planets of hate and anger, of death and violence. of blood-soaked lands never to be free of the taint of blood and its coppery reek. No nightmare to shake off for this is all too real. There is a palpable fear that we will never see the end of this habitation on a strange hostile Planet. 

That is our future unless we stand tall, proud of our identity as Jews, that nation which has survived all that has been thrown at it. We cannot allow the apologist Jews who say they "refute their Jewishness" and certainly the world does not allow for that. Not at all. And not that we should want to do so. Ever. 

The only path to success in fighting this evil is to stand tall, unite with the righteous, the moral, and conquer this evil with every aspect or definition of courage. If we do not stand together, we will die separately. Only together can we fight the evil, the dehumanization, the brutality, an evil so strong it sucks the very air out of our lungs.        

The idea of using planets came from the brutally unvarnished memoir of Jozsef Debrezeni , an absolute must to read. It struck me that for all intents and purposes the brutal worlds of the Nazis have returned, albeit thinly disguised via new names and wording. It is there for all to see, at least those willing to see the truth of the hate, the return of a vicious cycle, and do something to oppose it.

Day 162 for the hostages, the dwindling number - if any- remaining alive in horrendous circumstances have been discounted, belittled, demoted down many rungs, in concern, in efforts to appease the butcher murderer savage beast invaders. Israelis castigated, threatened, should they not capitulate to terms existentially suicidal for them. Release of ALL prisoners including those with buckets of blood staining their hands and nonexistent souls.  

No definitive list of hostages, dead and alive nor any release schedule and that to take place over 126 days!!! Even as unbelievable demands are made and the fate of the men remaining totally unaddressed. 

Full retreat for the Israelis, leaving them open to certain repetition of the horror of Oct7. Threatened to be a pariah among nations -as if that is not already a growing trend. Even as Jews round the world are attacked, threatened, forced out of universities and public and private arenas. A goal of isolation and ostracism of Jews. Even as " ... the Biden administration enforcement arm of the U.S. Department of Education said that it has seen more complaints of discrimination against “Muslim, Arab, Sikh, South Asian, Hindu, and Palestinian students.” The letter did not mention discrimination against Jewish students".      

 Well, F##k the world. We are not getting off. We are here to stay. Here we are, here we will remain and resist any attempts of forced habitation on a hostile new planet. Our insurance and assurance is that Big Fella' up there. A close relative. Geni traced the connection for us!  

------------------------------------------------------------Yitzy, there is so much ugliness and hate down here, so exhausting and dangerous as hell.  I hope and pray that things up there are the opposite as humanity there has come to its senses, discarding    hate and the foulness of humanity. 

   Yitzy, you are always in my mind, your name held close to my heart. Always with me.

Always and forever. Always and forever.                

WHYOHWHYOHWHYOHWHYOHWHYOHWHY

 I am not quite sure whether the title expresses sheer crazed uncertainty, or questions as to why the world has gone off on a mad tangent, as if holding hands prior to a suicidal jumping off the cliff. I am not sure whether this is an exasperated why, as to why exactly the world seems to have lost its collective marbles or a why as in why the hell Jews must be experienced in the presentations and nuances of JewHatred and respond calmly, anger stuffed deep down, repressed, for to show anger is only to reinforce their bigotry and litany. 

Why is it now considered, openly, as an acceptable hatred ever growing in vitriolic prose, even as it rides the waves of apparent public opinion and   grown to be an acceptable, desirable, praiseworthy trend, its ever increasing levels of violence approved, even encouraged, its cloak of social acceptance increasingly burnt by the acidity and vehemence of talk and deed. 

It is a social movement which feeds on the worst of mankind, assumes that the worst will most often rise to the surface as it indulges free expression of misplaced anger and the transfer of negativity to targets providing for relief from one's own feelings and recognition of one's own insufficiency, the cause of one's own failures. So much better to blame others. Especially your neighbor, your boss, your coworker, anyone other than yourself. The Jew happens to make a wonderful ever present hatred,     the go to target, its burning kernel always at the ready.    

So why the Jew? Why and why and why as people attempt to explain, justify, understand the unexplainable, the unjustifiable, the illogical. Hatred, bigotry, do not lend themselves to sanity, instead lending themselves to insanity with a stamp of approval. Only, if ever, when society learns and chooses better options will this vile hatred finally fade into the background.

 Do I think it will ever disappear, to be seen no more? Nope. Not one iota, for apparently humans are not built for that. At some point, always, humanity seeks the lowest common denominator, a valve to open and release pressure quite unfairly, directed at the Jew, the stubborn Jew who refuses to give in to societal anathema and disappear. So contrary, ergo so wonderful and useful a target.    'Why' answered? Not really.            

The same illogical, so soul satisfying freedom to shout and misbehave in public, even outrageously to give vent to formerly stifled feelings, to wallow in the filth now deemed acceptable, desired, oh, such a feeling! It easily transfers then from the individual Jew to the Jews of a larger group - Israel and those who support it.  So offensive is their determination to have their own homeland of ancient verity. Nevertheless, they are not entitled, becomes the rant, exterminations the solution. Again, yet again, Boring, yet so emphatically dangerous.  Brutal violence wreaked upon it and its citizens is cheered and celebrated. Allies turn away as Israel fights back, determined for once and for all to defeat this poison, even as Hamas ensconces itself among the civilians, all the better to dirty up Israel. Even as 'innocent' civilians, rare as hen's teeth, the same ones who cheered the parade of captives, cheered the bloody clothing, the raped, the weeping children, the staggering elderly, the wounded young adults, the terrified mother clinging to her two little boys.

Very rarely are these hostages, dying every day spoken of save among Israelis, their families, the horrified of the world. Too many speak only of guilty murderers to be freed to do it all over again.  We read of the desertion of allies who are incensed when Israel refuses to fall upon its sword.     We read of the pressure exerted on Israel, to cede control to other countries. To have an 'election' but it had better turn out 'right', the 'or else' clearly written above.  

Well, no more why. No more. Israel is entitled to do as it must. The rest be damned. Once again, the world stands silently by or speaks out of the other side of a twisted mouth, and Jews die. 

     No More.  Why. No More. 

We live, we die, according to our plans and our needs. We have the right to be a nation, independent, with the right to defend itself.  

NO  MORE  WHY. NO  MORE.

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Yitzy, even as I rage at the demands for why, the necessity to answer as our kids ask why, I, we. will never stop asking why, why you had to leave us, be taken from us. Why, is what I will never understand, never forgive nor forget, despite all who try to answer. There is no answer to this why even as there is no answer to the why of hatred.

Always with us, sweet boy.

Always and forever. Always and forever.

    

HMMM ... INTROSPECTION

  There are times, particularly when sleep is quite evasive, which lend themselves to musings of the soul, of the interior mind. At times these thoughts are interesting and at other times so boring they can bring back that elusive sleep. Other times they are simply discouraging, especially when one contemplates current humanity and our evidently permanent state of a barbarism and savagery thought to have been cut out of the human being. However wrong we were, however wrong we are at present, I do not hold out much hope for a change in the future unless we delve deep into our psyche and effect massive change, huge slabs of rehabilitation, along with tremendous changes wrought to our way of thinking. Can we do it? Hmmmm again. Doubtful, but perhaps there are enough of the sane and humane people around - if only they can be found.

Unfortunately, I believe the statement on an Earth Day poster of 1970 sets out the problem succinctly. "We have met the enemy, and he is us." Fair warning to the members of the human race - if we are going to get anywhere with our plans for regeneration of the positive, then we must begin with ourselves. We, the people, must be the firm foundation of the move to improve the human race.

How do we do this? Where do we begin? I believe the first step is to take an accounting of where we are, where we stand, and what we can realistically achieve within a decent amount of time. That will take a deep look within, to find a starting point, even as that search and the realization of that starting point are quite deflating of ego.  Only if we understand that beginning can we look to possible forward movement.   

 Our starting point is the realization that we have created a hungry, never satisfied black hole. Into that black hole we consign all who displease us, those destroying our goals of power and wealth.       Along with that, we toss in the detritus we accumulate in our destructive path through human history, far fiercer and more destructive than Sherman's march to the sea.

Success will result only when we realize that our characters are at point here. It entails, demands, an understanding of the import of a statement made by the ancient Greek philosopher, Heracleitus.  "Character is destiny". What does that mean for our destiny? If our characters are faulty, incomplete, lacking traits necessary to enable and ensure positive forward movement, it then follows logically, that the first step is to improve our values, burnish our traits, upgrade them, and practice them in life, not only in words empty of any promise. 

Until now, right now, we have practiced faulty behavior, held tight to false mores. We have been proof of the simple wisdom of Dr. Seuss who said, "adults are obsolete children". Thus we have behaved, using schoolyard behavior as national moves, insisting on the maintenance of destructive differences which could be settled with some truly adult wisdom. But we refuse that and instead create the detritus fed to the blackhole along with those good people we dispose of via that same always hungry black hole. 

Review history and note how so much of the violence, the hate, the death and destruction, could have been avoided with just that bit of extra wisdom and thought. But, as children do, we refuse, and all insist on their way to the exclusion of all else. And the blood soaks the ground and the cries of the bereft split the heavens. 

Proverbs tells us, warns us, that "they lie in wait for their own blood, ambush their own lives." WE are the ones lying in wait and WE are the ones we slaughter. There is no good, no actual winner at war, for both sides lose too much. Yet that behavior, that insistence, is the "Oh, yeah!" standard of the schoolyard and of the obsolete children we call adults. 

Imagine an inhabitant on some planet in the vast universe tasked to observe the humans of earth. He has been keeping an eye on them, waiting watching, wondering. When will they ever grow up? When will they understand the truths of the universe? When will they understand the violence is unnecessary yet so beloved by them? In the meanwhile, all he can do is borrow the words of C.S. Lewis.  "Let's pray that the human race never escapes from Earth to spread its iniquity elsewhere."

Amen to that. Amen to efforts to improve ourselves-------------------------------------------------

And amen to you, Yitzy, and the blessing, the gift, you were to us for such a short 13 years. We wanted more, needed more. Do you miss us as much as we miss you? Know that we love and miss you always.

Allways and forever. Always and forever.

THE AIR? THE WATER? THE FOOD?

 Just what is it that has seemingly turned the globe around. What was once thought to be true is now denied. What was considered fair play has gone the way of dinosaurs. Principles of life, of relations, domestic and foreign, have been consigned to the trash heap. Privately held principles are allowed to inconvenience a majority which do not hold those views. America denies or abrogates responsibility to protect her citizens, particularly those imprisoned in authoritarian states. Open displays of vitriolic hate are allowed, even as people are beaten and demeaned by the participants. 

Our schools have been infiltrated by those who spew hate and wish to implant that hate in others, particularly the young. We have criminals running for public office with too many not seeing the wrong in that. Worse, they are supported and encouraged by rabbles of ignorant, angry people, pushed on via elected officials who manipulate voting rolls and all else, in order to further their goals - even if the majority of the populace disagrees. 

As a result, we are now in a rather dim position wherein multiple slates of candidates are running for office with convictions or awaiting trial or under suspicion or having been warned or censured. Even the tools of censured behavior and modifications deemed necessary have been turned into tools of political revenge and backbiting. Personal grievances and ambitions take precedence over all else, constituents wishes and needs ignored. 

Political ambitions now have replaced the honor of public service. Too often the offices are seen as the path to the pot at the end of the rainbow, a golden glow of wealth and power. Even worse are those who come to public office with an agenda of hate.  They advocate for a cellular level change of the ethos of this nation, and thus, a change in the world, as ugliness becomes chic, and ancient tropes of dangerous lies rise to the surface of our rather scummy pond.  

There is an atmosphere of grievances, oh so righteous, with individuals emulating the officials, demanding the prioritizing of their private demands over the needs and rights of others. That arrogant attitude is to be found on planes, on the streets of cities as traffic is blocked by rabid haters demanding the right to endanger society and individuals, to destroy all that annoys or offends them. 

Today we have a situation where the fox not only finds an easy path into the henhouse, but also finds that the path has been brightly lit and signposted. We have abnegated our roles as protectors of people, of recognition of wrongs needing righting. We ignore crucial and critical needs of our citizens in peril and as a consequence, they die. Itay Chen, a dual citizen of America and Israel, has been declared dead, his body carried off in the grotesque actions of Hamas. Today, there are approximately 99 hostages alive or in some sad remnant of life. Five are dual citizens of America and Israel.  what does America do to rescue them? A big fat ZERO. Not to forget the 31 bodies held for ransom. Where is the world? Where is humanity? Crying for the instigators of this horror, now losing to Jews!   How unacceptable. Even as they reap the consequences of their own actions. and meanwhile, more hostages die.    

Israel has the right, the duty, to defend its citizens and retrieve them when stolen. America should learn a lesson as to proper national behavior. Do not write them off becaue they are Jew. Being Jew is not an automatic ticket to victimhood, to target of hate. The state of being Jew is not an automatic karma of death and persecution. Being Jew is not a free ride for others to use as targets for violence.

No, the state of being Jew is the state of pride of knowing how much this less than 2% of the world's population has punched way, way, above its weight. Despite all efforts, and there have been many, to eliminate them.        

So where are we going now on our very dangerous not recommended road? How and why have we fallen into this state of disrepair? Are we flawed by nature, or have we become lazy and sloppy? Is the cause to be found in the air? The water? The food?  Possibly. Maybe. More likely, it is due to our underactive morality button and a willful manner of taking the easier low road rather than strive for the more difficult, but better one. It is a refusal to acknowledge that we all are humans, in the same species and we must stop picking and choosing to whom we allow entry and to whom not. To do otherwise is to doom us all.

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Yitzy, my golden so missed grandson, do the beings up there know any more than we humans do? Are the answers to our problems available, and if so, how do we get them? We sure as shootin' need them. ASAP. If so, send them via priority mail. The situation is desperate - a 911 case.

Miss you so much. Miss that grin and so sad to know I will only see it in pictures, videos and in my imagination. Keep smiling little boy. It will warm us all up someday.

Love you.

Always and forever. Always and forever.

A TALE OF TWO HOODIES

  Upfront, full confession. I am a sucker for hoodies, shirts or sweatshirts which have a hood and I love the pockets as well. However, the best thing about my love of these items is the writing. Hoodies can carry important messages and even in humor can convey much. All people need do is pay attention and understand the messages portrayed and conveyed.

As usual, the war begun by an animalistic bestial attack on Israeli civilians asleep in their homes on a Saturday holiday, or dancing at a music festival, has given growth to a related offshoot. That is the use of the hoodies and other garments to send messages out there, clear and obvious, about the feelings re this horrendous war and the ugliness it has revealed within the hearts and minds of too many, a hatred which they have carried over into every aspect of life. It is a system of dehumanization of Jews round the world and a growing demand to excise them from society, banning them from any and all activities, from sports to song competitions. Every deed, every word, spoken by an Israeli, or any Jew, is examined under a microscope using the magnification of hate and treated as poison or garbage, any negative attachment works.   

 Well, now there are those clever enough to create slogans to be worn openly, proudly, defiantly. The messages are clear and cannot be misconstrued as to import of the printed messages. They are clear and loud and out there for all to see and know. The messages relay this: we will not allow you to sideline us. We will not allow you to dehumanize us. We will not let you push us into ghettoes of speech and activities, then into places of forced residence and finally the last step - emptied into the same Final Solution championed by Hitler.

 No, been there, done that and we will not have it again. This time, forewarned, forearmed, with the bitter knowledge how 'friends' can turn on us, we are prepared. We will outlast you, out talk you, out do anything you can do or say or think. History is on our side, has our back, so to speak. Even as it details the millennia long JewHatred, it also delineates the fact that Jewry has survived all that has been thrown at it, while its powerful enemies have not.  

As for those Jews who shamefully try to divest themselves from their Jewishness, a note to those who think that a winning strategy. No, it is not and has proven its fallacy through the ages. Rescue and survival come only through unity, with recognition that we are a family, like it or not, squabbling in sibling rivalry, nonetheless, related.  First, last and always. Should we forget that, you can be sure that others out there will remind us of that fact. Might as well embrace it and flaunt it. 

Hence the tale of two hoodies or actually more than that. The slogans began with the heartfelt plea to bring our captive people home, to free them from their living hell. As usual, pleas to save Jews, fell on deaf ears. Also as usual, when Hamas were being beaten back, the world began to cry for them. Jews triumphing cannot be!! Never mind the babies and children, the wounded, the elderly, the young adults, the foreign workers - all were deserted by the world, ignored and betrayed by their countries of citizenship. Merely Jews. Pff! They do not count, even as the rampant and brutal sexual attack became known via evidence, words and videos taken by the beasts themselves as they reveled in their bestiality. 

Once again, the world stood silent until it spoke -  words of condemnation of Israel as it attempted to retrieve their lost people, to destroy an enemy who refused to end the war by sending back the hostages and who have an avowed open tenet to destroy ALL Jews. ALL. Even the Jews who refute their Jewishness. Even those who stupidly stand alongside, in their confusion.  Jews they are and Jews they will be, like it, deny it or not.

Back to the hoodies. As the fever pitch rose, more slogans and apparel. Dog tags with the names of captives and soldiers, with the slogan of unity, of standing with Israel. As the wave of hate and violence spread, infecting nations, our anger grew, but even as it did, we addressed it with increased visits to Israel, purchases of products of the country, serving as aides in kitchens, teaching in classrooms where teachers were missing.  

And we put it on hoodies. A popular one is We Will Dance Again. Yes, the music of the Nova Festival will return, as will the joy of dancing with the Torah on its holiday and the peace of the Sabbath will be once again. And we had this slogan.

   FCK  HMS

 Love that one and my hoodie with it is on the way. To be worn as openly as I wear my Jewish stars,  my 'Curbyourantisemetism'  shirt or my Stand with Israel hoodie. As visible as are my pins, from slogan pins, to dogtags, to yellow ribbons re sexual abuse. I do not wear blood red pins commemorating the lynching of two lost soldiers in an Arab village. Shame to those celebrities who wore the that pin, endorsing a new oh so chic trend of condoning violence and slaughter.    

We are Israel.

We are Jews.

We stand tall.

We stand proud. 

Am Yisroel Chai.

Lanetzach.

We Will Dance Again.  

 Someday. Someday. Someday.  

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Yitzy, you too live on with us, with the people of Israel, always proud of your Jewishness, of the values contained within.

Always, you will be a stand tall and proud member of the family.

Always loved and treasured.

Alway and forever. Always and forever.

     

"Hafazuu ealaa al'iinsania alati baqiat fikum, wa'atlaquu sarah almukhtatafin"

 Cannot understand what the title is? Think I had a sudden snap in a connection somewhere? Well, actually all that is incorrect. It is a statement, a plea, of a former hostage to the animals holding the hostages, if any in fact, remain alive, Growing doubt on that answer. The English translation - 'If any shred of humanity remains in you, release the hostages! The sad truth, obvious, though studiously ignored and denied, is that there is, in fact, not a single iota, nor even a memory of humanity within these animals. Yes, animals, for the shoe fits and must be worn.

Seek outside papers and news sources. Read a paper from Israel. See the true faces of horror, as in a 19-year-old girl, bloodied mouth, stares out of dead eyes, unwilling witness to sights she cannot unsee. To undergo her own rape or any abuse. Powerless, hopeless, starving, of little concern or even worthy of mention by the 'saints' of the world who parley anti-Israel tropes, playing them as needed, to hide the truth beneath- JewHatred.        As for those traitor Jews who hang about the animals, they will discover too late that being the "house n---" for these animals will not serve them any good. The fate of one Jew is the fate of all Jews. History has taught us that lesson, that bitter truth time and time again.       

These mainly young, once attractive, sparkling with life, of bright eyes are now dead eyed, souls agonized. They relive the horror, forced to witness a fellow Israeli woman captive strung up from the ceiling, hang there and be beaten almost to death. To see friends murdered and abused. Their own abuse undergone. To wonder in the dank airless dark, starving, dehydrated, filthy, wondering if there will be a respite. Not hopeful at this point, 5 months into the living horror.  

Unfortunately, as usual, the world is finetuned to believe in and propagate the lies of those who eagerly, vehemently, endorse and practice rabid JewHatred. Thus, no one 'notices' the recycled actor so talented as to play roles as onlooker, rescuer, medical personnel etc. in video after video. Or the doll cast as an infant, or the girl being passed off as  quite a huge 18-month-old being mourned by her mother and then recycled into yet another 'dead' child being wept over by her 'mother'.

 Or we have a claimed 12-year-old boy who somehow between a Friday picture and a Sunday picture, morphed into a skeletal depiction as a victim of starvation. Unfortunately for the creators of this false rant, starvation does not work that way and I refer them to the annals of studies of starvation, true starvation, within the concentration camps. Better luck next time. Or the accompanying rant re this mysterious child, who apparently 'died' due to a lack of a required special diet. Maybe, even as truth is so rare around Gaza these days, maybe not, but immediately, to my mind comes the vivid image of two red headed little boys, 4-year-old Ariel who needed a special diet and his baby brother, Kfir, who needed his formula and light, to breathe, to thrive, to survive.

Where. Are. They. Now? 

   Our dead children were not dolls nor fakes, shifted to stretchers. No, they were burned, tortured, shot, knifed, beaten, taken captive. Civilians all, and of 19 women left behind, apparently only14 remain - if that is true. Great doubt on that. As for the men remaining - their life expectancy is pretty much nil.

Do I mourn the death of children? Of course I do, but the heart hardens as the enemy claims unique issues, to them alone, to weep and thrash and gnash teeth in paroxysms of grief but who the hell began this war in the first place!!! Who killed the children of 30 - THIRTY- communities within Israel on a sleepy Saturday and holiday morning? Who always chooses holy days of Jews to attack? Who then claim their holy days, as Ramadan to be sacrosanct, immune to attacks? Don't work that way, folks. Nope. 

It is absolutely wrong for the attacker, the aggressor, who crowed at their capture and brutalization of women, children, men, the elderly, to now whine and demand concessions, respite from the violence they began!  One must pay the price for one's actions. For the nations of the world intimidated by the mobs of JewHaters and demand Israel concede, trade in victory for defeat -not going to happen. Never. This is an existential battle for the survival of the Jewish state and, in fact, for the Jewish people as a whole. Again. Yet again. Even as the world needs to get a life as time and again nations have risen up to destroy us but here we are and here we will remain, no matter the worst you can do and will do. 

The key question now is whether or not the world will concede that anti-Israel is an offshoot of the whole disgusting affair. The battle royale is not truly re Israel per se, but of the Jews, their survival, the fact that they are here and doing quite well, thank you. The true goal, the true aim, the true motive, the ugliness beneath it all, topping all, is JewHatred. Thus, Jews are chased and vilified throughout the world. Speakers, singers, actors, teachers, plain old everyday people in the streets, children, peers in universities, professors - all Jewish -chased, threatened, beaten, stifled and rejected from membership in the human community. The target: Jews. Israelis welcome to the hotspot, but simply to join the crowd. First up.  I, all Jews, all decent people, are awaiting an answer as to why Israel is the only nation asked to acquiesce, even join in its dissolution and the death of its citizens. Without a murmur of protest? Why?       Those who wait for an answer. for an application of logic to an illogical issue, will wait in vain. There is no explanation, no accounting for the bloodlust over the millennia. all the excuses, the nonexistent 'justifications', the 'reasoning' all false, fake, a thin overcoat over the remaining savagery within the hearts of those who need hate and violence to justify their own existence. This whole thing is ugly. It is exhausting. It is demoralizing. And it is useless, for despite the best? the worst? efforts of mankind, WE ARE HERE and HERE WE Will REMAIN. 

So tired, so very tired of this whole dirty business.

Shreds of humanity - where are they to be found?

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Yitzy, you are the gentle breeze which comes forward to blow the ugliness away. We remember your inner and outer beauty, your kindness, and we know that there will be justice for us even as the world wallows in its homegrown ugliness. But it is hard, so very hard.

So we think of you. I think of you. Invite you into conversations. Always a part of us.

 Always and forever. Always and forever.

HARRISON BERGERON

  For those unfamiliar with the name Harrison Bergeron, here is a small intro. In seventh grade, oh so many, many eons ago, we read a story, actually an excerpt from a novel of that title written by Kurt Vonnegut.  Harrison was a young boy, superb in every which way one could think of, a blessing to family and nation, yet was not so in his ugly world.   Excellence was punished, mediocrity enhanced and demanded, mandated by government policy. 

His rather unfortunate situation cried out for governmental intervention for one could not, must not, stand out in that society for excellence.  Harrison was burdened with handicap after handicap, from physical crippling to mental tampering. It was actually quite depressing to me and has remained with me all these years even as  other pieces of literature faded.

 How could this be? Why would it happen? Who would endorse such a crippling policy? Why, why, why? Was there a possibility of reform, a return to a sane and just society? Even more disconcerting when his society was compared to ours, a time of   nuclear threats, a world consistently stumbling from one war to another, a society riven by civil dissension rising to violence. 

Where were the leaders we needed, those who stood out for their excellence, for their ability to inspire the young?  Those capable were almost immediately removed from the equation, as in JFK and RFK, and well, here we are, all these decades and I fear that poor Harrison and his peers of abilities would be similarly burdened, forced down to the level of the lowest common denominator, to fit into a stagnant manifestly unequal society paraded around, touted as the peak of equality for mankind.    

The debate raged in that classroom, Mrs. Glazer mediating when emotions ran high and strong, and today, we are still debating the same issues. Rewrapped, regifted, it remains the same old, same old. It tires me out, deep down to the innermost core of my being. Why do humans consistently seek out the lowest of mankind? Why do we value the crass, the ugly of soul, those lacking empathy, any shred of decency. Why? We are indeed the authors of our fate, and we have writ so wrongly. Is it time to give up the battle, to lay down one's sword, to set aside ideals, to forfeit the battles without any further efforts? No, emphatically no. Even as the skies darken, the battle must be maintained, ramped up, if necessary, for the principles of Harrison's society, must find no home, no welcome here. Not with us. Nor for our kids.  

 We must abandon the leaders we have chosen, such as Trump along with the cowed and/or crazed members of a relic of a GOP and the equally insane extremes of the Democratic Party. We must find new faces, new minds, fresh ideas, restore the honor and prestige of public service.  Instead, we have shed our aura of leadership and shredded our trustworthiness as we waver in polices, refuse to stand tall and firm when we must do so.     

Even as we engage in yearly or semiyearly cleanouts of homes, of offices, of drawers and closets, we must do the same with ideas stagnant in their uselessness yet active in their production and spewing of poisons into the atmosphere of the world, along with their adherents and champions.  

The time for this battle is upon us, has already begun and unfortunately is proving too powerful for some, too enchanting for others. The effects are clearly visible for any who would open eyes to the truths of reality today. We cannot rewrite the past, should not attempt to do so for therein lurks danger, great existential danger.  We must look to the now and the future and do what must be done.

We must set aside, reject the ideas and policies of the opponents of Harrison, replacing them with   the ideas of excellence and honor and prestige in serving the nation. Hard work but work which is urgently needed. Now. The longer we wait the more difficult it will become until the point of no return is reached. 

Difficult, but there it is. Simply evaluate the past decade and the truth will hit hard, set you free indeed from the errors perpetrating hate and anger, the violence of evil.  

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

Yitzy, I spoke much of you yesterday and the tears ran down our cheeks.  You were there, with us, as we spoke of your goodness, tried to understand the non-understandable, the nonacceptable. Wishing we could rewrite the past.

Not to be, but your memory, your life, will always be with us.

Always and forever. Always and forever. 

IS IT THE QUESTON OR THE ANSWER?

 Recently, upon concluding an HBO series, I wondered at the questions raised and the answers glaring in their absence. Interestingly enough, even as many of the answers, the truths revealed by them, were ignored, desperately at times, the proper questions were similarly ignored, defiantly resisted, their own truths as difficult to acknowledge as the answers, spoken or unspoken, left to remain in a silence of denial. However, the denied, desperate to emerge free from repression, always finds a path and the festering blisters on and of humanity burst, sowing horror and hate, revives old evil tropes and words of value only to those without souls.

Such are our times, the state of affairs which have become the norm rather than the outlying ends of the bell curves of humanity. Feelings long thought extinguished, at the very least tamped down to insignificance, reappear, emerging in fields rich with the food it needs to grow. These ancient tropes of hatred and instigations and approval of high levels of violence, are replenished and strengthened by the technologies of the day. And the night, as so many of the haters lurk in the darkest areas of social media. Waiting, always waiting, for their chance to strike. 

 Equally unfortunate is the increasing rate at which these troglodytes feel empowered and safe to emerge into the sun. There, they openly practice their doctrines of hate and proselytize, quite successfully. The shredded reassurances of yesterday feed the anxieties of too many and they open themselves, become receptive, eager, desperate, to hear words of reassurance and inclusion, a place where they are welcomed. A place where they are of the circle rather than of those banned from it.

As the characters of the series continued to refuse   the truths, even to themselves, they shouted louder, attempting to deafen the calls within, the shame, the taint of their deeds darkening their minds, perverting their souls, stealing their humanity. Until the pressure grew too powerful and the ugliness within burst forth, the rivers of hate grew and grew, flooded their banks with violence, and the people wallowed in the muddy waters, ignoring the long-term lasting poisons seeping inside. Ever growing in intensity and depth, in accompanying violence, it became a tradeoff. Uncertainty for a place within the rest of humanity swarming around them. So much easier, is it not? So much less responsibility. 

The end results? Strange and heartbreaking. A relatively calm peace and period of growth for Jews came to a violent, bloody end. The hatred, ever present in tainted souls, fed by the antisemitism of public figures, figures of a skewed culture, became socially approved. Free to stretch its legs and limits, it did so, with great success. It found a plethora of dank and dark cellars of humankind. And it thrived.  And we thought at last, we are home free, no more fear, no more uncertainty, a full acceptance. Until it was no longer. Like NOW.

Even more frightening was the highly illogical union of the right and the left in endorsing and practicing this toxic new form of antisemitism, regressing immediately to death threats to world Jewry, first step being the destruction of Israel, its isolation and abandonment, and then the rest. Simple. Clear. There. Accepted. Championed. Even by those whom Jews had aided in their times of difficulty and danger. Traitors all. Haters all. Ugly all. 'Justifying' the unjustifiable.

Yes, we know we have true, steady friends, but the feeling of besiegement and ultimate final danger remained and remains.  Even as we trust in our history, surviving great empires who desired our extinction - We. Are. Here. And. Here. We. Will. Remain.  The Big Guy up there has promised us so.

Rabbi David Wolpe, whose every book I have and read, thoroughly, wrote an incisive essay in the Jewish Journal entitled On the Hatred of Jews, subtitled Antisemitism is a denial of humanity of the Jew. Here is a paragraph from the essay, in which is detailed the stupidity, the illogic of antisemitism, JewHatred, and its success, as it provides a handy dandy scapegoat for one's deficiencies and faults. Always it is the fault of others for one's failures and the Jews serve that purpose only too well in the sick minds of haters and pitiful flawed beings.

Read and weep and understand.

"People hate Jews because they are communists, capitalists, foreigners, residents, immigrants, elitists, have strange ways, are unassimilated, too assimilated, bankroll the left (like George Soros) or bankroll the right (like Sheldon Adelson). People hate Jews because they are weak and stateless, or because they are Zionists and defend Israel."

As an aside, David Suissa and Franklin Foer are two excellent writers whose articles one might seek and read.  

Where we go from here is a huge unknown. For sure, there is a lack of certainty of safety.  The result can be seen in the renewed planned migrations of Jewry to countries more welcoming, where they might feel safer. To Israel, their ancient homeland, despite all the deniers, or to stand firm, speak out and loud and defy all enemies.

Questions? Answers? Any difference actually? 

-------------------------------------------------------------Yitzy, yesterday I watched a video wherein a young boy was sick, lay dying, all hope lost. Then, a miracle. He healed. And I cried. I sobbed, deep within my very core. Why could you not have had such a miracle? Why were you taken? Why are we left bereft, a hole never to be filled nor covered. 

Not fair. Not right.

Love you, sweet boy. 

Always and forever. Always and forever.

AND SO, YESTERDAY AND TODAY AND TOMORROW AND, AND ANDANDANDANDAND

  "Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush" has become a persistent earworm for me. Never ending, though be sure it is not referring to the children's dance. No, it is referring to the same old, same old with modern day additions. It is a state of despair, ever darkening in tandem with the growing concern.   It is a state of constant query as to the future, if there is to be a future, one of positivity rather than dark and dreary, rife with the worst of mankind. As was yesterday and all the days of yesterday, the many days of the present and the infinite days of tomorrow stretching into an endless gloomy series of tomorrows. 

The news every day is the same, albeit with insertions of substitute countries and persona, but the result is the same. No change other than the constant lessening level of oxygen as we struggle to breathe in the stifling atmosphere we encounter. Day after day. Yesterdays and tomorrows merging together, swallowing the todays, in an emerging boundaryless gray world.

 No, this is not the end result of yesterday's lovely round of doctor visits, a mixed bag, but instead the sad sack state of the world today. No Sarge upon whom to lay the blame, no rescue via pet dog or sheer timely blind luck. The guilt for this ugliness threatening to swallow the world lies with US. All of us - those fighting on both sides of the divide. We allowed it, encouraged it, by supporting it, ignoring it, opposing it lackadaisically, or too little too late, not truly understanding the steepness of the hill before us, the last obstacle in our path to keep American democracy, world democracy, healthy and vital.    

How else to explain the unexplainable, as Americans fall under the spell of a faux Hitler, an American despot/king wannabe, an immoral, amoral, indicted criminal, fraud of the highest degree. This ever increasingly demented man, evil personified, as are his supporters, or evil deniers, equally at fault, as they refused and continue to refuse to see the truth, to admit their egregiously wrong, dangerous support of such a scumbag.

 Amerca remains firmly embedded in the muck and mire of the road to failure; actually, we are already up to the hubcaps in that filth. The world vibrates and shatters along with America, its resignation of   leadership proving to be a mortal wound to the world. Exactly how long this trend will continue, will it ever end, the extent of the resultant harm, repairable or not, all remain shrouded, doubtful, deep in the realm of great uncertainty. 

Israel, invaded, its citizens butchered, tortured, stolen, subjected to violence unspeakable, ignored by the world, denied even as the proof, the truth, was there. THERE. At long last the UN, shamed into admitting "reasonable" suspicions to believe it all, that truth is diluted via accusations sans proof of the same behavior of the Israeli forces. Even as they admit to ongoing captive torment - or their location, alive, dead, the refusal to return them - Israel is taxed with demands to feed and water a quite well fed non dehydrated population, not a hair out of place. Even as the "two days from starvation" never materializes. An enemy population the vast majority of whom are either complicit or implicit in cooperation with the goal to destroy Israel and then world Jewry. The willful blindness, deafness, even the encouragement of the world countries unabated.    Snatch defeat from the mouth of victory. Well, NO!! Never. Ever.  

Wherever one looks these days there is evil. Incompatibility stressed, differences highlighted, and humanity, in every context of the word denied and violated. Rights fought and died for are being rescinded with worse to follow. Lies are valued over truths and the bigger, the more outlandish the lies and the liar, the more admiration directed that way. 

Humankind is busy furthering its own destruction, even to the point of denying rampant, dangerous climate change. Fierce destructive weather where it never existed before, invading species of flora and fauna, vast pandemics and returns of old once defeated illnesses. A world becoming increasingly uninhabitable yet merrily we roll along, until the wagon will roll off the ends of a newly declared square, flat world. 

Can we follow that script for aid? The one which states: I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills from whence will come my aid." Can we, will we, ever admit that there is a higher power, whatever the name or theory we assign it?  Has our arrogance once again brought us to yet another Biblical proportion destruction?  Can we ever learn, internalize that all humanity is tied together, and we share the fate of the world. Do we understand the next step in our arrogance, thinking we can assume the role of creators of intelligent lifeform, a sentient being, brighter, more intuitive, able to increase its brainpower far faster than its creators - us.     How false a belief!

Will we persist in the false idea that religion and faith are one and the same? Faith, a pure untainted faith, can compete with religion, man-made, complete with the built-in prejudices and imperfections of mankind. True faith recognizes the shared values of people all over the world and no religion is superior to another. 

That to see a woman and child huddled in the rain beneath the rather dubious shelter of an underpass is just so wrong, so very wrong! That it is far better to house the homeless than amass numerous huge homes remaining empty most of the year, housing perhaps mainly our own egos? Or the desire to be better than the others as we host dinners of massive amounts of food and then discard so much, even as so many face food insecurity and even starvation?    

When will we ever learn? Will we ever learn?

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

Yitzy, sweet innocent boy who never could be unkind, so foreign such a thought or deed was to you, what do you see as you look down upon us. Can you see into the future? Is there a future, a good one? Can humanity turn things around, pull ourselves out of the hole we dug for ourselves? In time to avoid catastrophe?  

So many things we would have loved to share with you as you grew into a man. To share our lives with you.  Denied to us. But remember, we continue to love you and keep you alive, an integral part of our lives.  

That will never stop.

Always and forever. Always and forever.

        

NO POST TODAY

 Another bit of medical rounds today. Will be back tomorrow. Have a great day. 

ALL BUT THE CLOSING CREDITS

 Truthfully, there are no credits here, only debits. These debits are awardable to both sides of this   amazingly nasty issue, now far more than an issue, actually a fact of life. Yesterday's title portrayed an angry shock. Perhaps a persistent refusal to accept what I know, what I feel, down to the last bit of marrow in my bones.

 What, you ask? Possibly the worst period for Jews since the Holocaust and possibly overtopping that. No, I have not jumped any sharks or ingested or smoked or injected any hallucinatory ingredients. Nor have I landed on my head nor had a building fall down upon it. Nope. What has hit me hard is the truth of my fears, the actualization of warnings I have made, the melding of my words, my concerns, with identical thoughts and words emanating from rather brilliant minds. 

It cannot be, we say. No way, for we have come too far, learned too much, are better than that. Uh huh. Famous last words. Simple imagination. "We are Germans (substitute any nationality) first, Jews second. We are perfectly safe. Said even as the doors slam shut as the last victim was shoved into the chamber, the last infant tossed in over the heads. "Always room for another", chuckled the young American soldier. A final check, a press of a button and now, a job well done and beer to follow. 

Yes, the world has indeed come far, so far that they are now completing yet a new version of ever repeating cycles of virulent murderous hate. Each cycle improved: new gadgets, higher efficiency and a far smoother, quicker change within the nations' ethos than ever before. A joyful triumph as the world actually unites, in a universal undertaking.

This horrendous scene is awaiting us just over the rise. Think not? Think a definite flip?  Read the words of Franklin Foer in The Atlantic.  "The Golden Age of American Jewry has ended." Period. The details to follow, but we know them already, do we not. Merely a game of change the names a bit and there ya' go. Sound the horns and off go the baying hounds followed by their bloodthirsty masters. Almost 4,000 incidents of rising violence and intensity in the three months after Oct7.  As victims, the attacked, on that holiday, yes, a holiday, though perhaps not as important as Ramadan, merely a Jewish holiday, hence discountable, have become the aggressors.      Accused of abetting their own horror of savagery.  Held responsible for the fortunes of war as they break over the heads of the true aggressors, innocents, of course, notwithstanding- though as with Abraham, find me ten innocents here, as even the children would tease the hungry captives held in a chair in a dark room in their home with food and candy and chomp away as they walked away, and their oh so proud parents smiling at their progeny.   Innocents? Not here. Unless they are the innocents the NYT referred to who praised the deeds of Hamas on Oct7, rejoiced in the spilled blood, cheered the parade of captives. Oh, the NYT outdid themselves in this one!!       

Slaughtered, butchered, the entire Fogel family, mother, father, three children - gone.

Our captives, civilians, brutalized, sexually, physically, mentally, emotionally, from the oldest to the last babe in arms. 

The fattest, well-padded people I have ever seen who were 'starving, dehydrated, though quite clean with clean clothes and just so haircuts -as our captives were exhibited, gaunt, colorless, weak.    Then dead. Or life status claimed as  'unknown'. Ditto their whereabouts. 

In the meanwhile, every person in the world down to the nursery kids apparently have graduated with the highest degrees in diplomacy and international relations and know the answers, the solution to this  all. So far more important than all the other rather obvious messes of the world. 

I can go on and on, but the truth is that Noa Agramonte, her dying mother, the two dolls along with their terrified mother, the 'missing' captives, the slaughtered in Israel, and yes, the deaths in Gaza  - all on Hamas. And the enablers.

There is no difference between the hatred of Hamas and their goals and the goals of the haters of the world. Read this and chew on it. Then perhaps my terror can be felt and understood.  

"Why do Jew haters hate Jews?

On the surface, it makes little sense. Why would anyone hate a group that has given so much to the world in so many fields?

One can always find a good reason, ...to hate, resent or envy Jews. These reasons are usually framed intellectually.  there’s a deeper motivation at work, something as simple as… pleasure.

“There are (at least) three principal sources of pleasure which anti-Semitism provides,” British philosopher Eve Garrard argued a few years ago in the online journal Fathom. “First, the pleasure of hatred; second, the pleasure of tradition, and third, the pleasure of displaying moral purity. Each of these is an independent source of satisfaction, but the three interact in various ways, which often strengthens their effects.”

  And now, folks, find the article, find David Suissa's article and think.

Then join me in my fear and distrust, mistrust of the future. And aware, let us fight to change the path. We had better do so, for no others will.

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

Yitzy, sad as it is to think, let alone to voice, perhaps you are better off where you are now. How could your innate goodness and innocence have understood the evil, yet as bright as you were how could you have avoided it.

Perhaps, you could have surprised all and led us to an answer, or a workable solution. Maybe. But we will never know, will we?   

Miss, love, continue to adore you.

Always and forever. Always and forever.

  

WHAT THE FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 Someone, somebody, please wake me up. Tell me I am dreaming, having one of those crazy nightmares so real that one wakes up in the middle, living it. Until finally, one is up and aware enough to realize the dream it was - and then an even greater wash of horror in the understanding that one is actually living that nightmare and/or knowing the actuality of it is not far in distance from oneself. 

 I know I am not alone in these dreams of horror, in the feelings of anxiety and fear, of concern for and of a future most unpleasant, mired in rippling confusion as to why, for what reason, in what infinite level of insanity, is the constant bloodthirst of vehement JewHatred allowed to not only remain in existence, but allowed to thrive. There, beneath the surface of the thin veneer of civilization, of supposed progress, the falseness of that progress is bared for all to see.

Aroar, hungry, seeking blood, seeding hate, relishing its acceptance, the freedom allowed to do its worst, its hate runs rampant through the world, increasing, until only destruction and despair remain. The beasts in human clothing lead the way as blind followers roar in indignation as their masters are called animals, for that is the unblemished truth. No longer will society succeed in censoring the truth. Or my mouth or proverbial pen. No, for these creeps, these beasts, are, in fact, in deed, ANIMALS.

 Denying that truth in the name of "being better", traveling on a higher road even as the travelers of the lower road beneath us slit our bellies and drain our blood - no, no more!! NO. MORE. The constraints of polite society be damned for they are   only inducive of further harm. 

It has always been my firm philosophy to meet people where they are, accept the reality, for denial in wishfulness is detrimental to any and all progress. Then to work. These current enemies are no different. Perhaps they are even worse in their vehemence and depth of depravity. Hence, we meet and greet - exactly where they are, exactly where they think we will not be. 

That is where we will begin our success and their defeat. If we anger the world in our persistence and determination to exist, well, title redux - over and over and over and over and over, ad infinitum, or if you prefer, "to infinity and beyond". Gloves off. Violence met by violence. Push them to the wall until there is no place left for their survival in their present state of insanity. Beat down their lies with the unvarnished truth. Refuse to 'justify' our right to exist, for no other nation is constantly called upon to do so - only the Jews, only Israel. So -               NO. MORE. 

We categorically refuse to die to satisfy your perverted needs. We refuse to play the numbers game wherein we must match death for death, injury for injury. We sought none of this as we returned to our indigenous ancient homeland, again, even as we joined those who had never left over the two millennia of official exile. As we sought to rebuild, contribute, be a place of refuge for our brethren oppressed, repressed, and persecuted within their native lands.  

Time and again we have been shown the door and heard the gates slammed shut behind us. Time and again we have been the scapegoat of the nations, deflecting attention to their own incompetence, their problems, their leaders incompetent at best and pure sacks of evil at worst. 

 Time and again we were told to die. Time and again we were told we were dying too slowly. Well, today we will not die for your satisfaction.  In fact, you have valued us as one captive, one dead body for thousands of animals whose hands still drip with our blood, so, therefore, we will give you that return in our own bookkeeping: -one of  ours dies, one of ours slaughtered in captivity, one of  ours has their sexual abuse  and mutilation discounted, well, here are the debts of repayment - all according to  your  oft evidenced  valuations.     

It has long been understood that as one sows so shall one reap. You, the world, have allowed, encouraged, fertilized, a bumper crop of hate of virulent no longer barely disguised antisemitism to morph into an ugly monster of dripping fangs and clawed hands, a JewHatred which once again demands an end to all Jews. No longer feasible to disguise the truth. Not anti-Zionism. Not a polite societal antisemitism about "you know, those Jews", but an open hatred and death. A Final Solution. Again.  

Time to change leaders. Time to change the chefs and sous chefs. Time to change and replace false hate mongers for real and true teachers. Time to face the truth of who we are, who we have become.   Only then can humanity move on, to better itself and its core values, in thought and in reality.  

As for we Jews, at least those who think and feel as I do, who know history as I do, as we do, will be  watching.  We will  be  aware.  Always. NO MORE. No what has come before.

NO MORE.  That is a promise. That is a warning. I only wish this were a podcast so the anger, the despair, the determination of my soul would indeed be carried out there for all to hear.  

Shall I say - I am woman, hear me roar.

I am Jew, hear me roar. 

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

Yitzy, as strong as is my anger, so strong is my love for you, my determination to keep you with us to fight off all those who would not allow it.

Always and forever. Always and forever.

I miss you so. My soul needs that grin, the sparkle.

The world needs it.

Always and forever. Always and forever.        

HEY, MR. TAMBOURINE MAN ...

  ...play a song for me. Not to forget the request to keep it simple. Would that it was that easy, that simple to keep it simple. However, the world is neither simple nor has any ambition to be so. While there exist certain principals seemingly simplistic, as in "All men are created equal", think of the wars fought over that statement, so obvious, yet so difficult to integrate within society. Instead, we have had great divisions of society with, when all is said and done, that simple, should be obvious sentiment as the root cause of it all. 

It is when mankind, generally men (ahem) misinterpret or add their own corollaries to those simple statements, that we have the onset of upheaval, violence, the worst side of mankind, and the devastation as a consequence can be quite long in duration and intensity. All the while, off in a corner, unnoticed, is the Tambourine Man packing away his instrument for peace and simplicity.

Last night was interesting. We wandered down memory lane, many lanes, recalling songs we once sang, hoping, so sure, that the peace we sang of, the universal love, the perfection of mankind, would become true.  Who would want otherwise, or so our hearts told us, forgetting that alongside our hearts were those with cruel, cold minds who cherished other values, who weighed things differently. Other ambitions took first place and dreams went the way of those once promising green fields where valleys and rivers were picturesque and hope abounded. 

 Gone. Plans and dreams withered in the harsh rays of unshielded sun. Rivers dried up and valleys were built over. Plans never truly solidified went unrealized and were finally consigned to forgotten sub-basements somewhere off who knew where, as life took precedence, Dreamers and their dreams gave way before the pragmatists and slowly, surely, visions of green fields drifted away, dimmed, and finally vanished. 

 Reminisces flowed and there was laughter aplenty as we spoke of who we once were, who we became -and why - along with the adventures of our lives.  Inevitably, we all began to wonder, to ourselves, then aloud, and as we all are people of a certain age, thoughts turned to legacy. 

What were we leaving behind? Were the physical items of our wills of most importance or was there more, had to be there, and clear, which were of vital importance and responsibility. Had we paid enough attention to that legacy, the non-physical? Those values have held our people together in the past, in our increasingly uncertain present, and will do the same in the future if we hold to them, keep them alive and of relevance, for they will be the buoys we need as we, they, swim in difficult waters.                

As Americans, native born or born into DP camps to parents who were Holocaust survivors, we realize now, more than ever, that we all are sandwich generations. We bring from the past, live it, modify it in the present, and transmit it to the future. Inevitably some things go awry, fall victim to interpretation or dismemberment, transformed, almost to the point of nonrecognition, but we must make the effort to keep the good, discard the failed, the harmful, choose our leaders carefully even as we must be the leaders our families need. Only thus can we, now the top layer of the sandwich, do our best to ensure a viable future for the rest of the sandwich and the pieces to come. 

How we choose to do so, carry on and about our responsibilities is up to the individuals. We pass or fail; at whatever level we choose there are always choices to be made even when those choices are almost nonexistent. We can be forced to cross a street, but do we do it proudly or do we cringe?  Do we sacrifice for the fancier, bigger car, or for the   better education, the deeper faith? Do we value the golf game or play catch in the backyard? 

The backbone of self-evaluation is the application of honesty as one finds a mirror for the soul. Delve deep and wide, looking through your best glasses.     Some of us were surprisingly frank - and brave -in self-evaluation. Others were a tad more hesitant. As for me, well, lawyer! 

We need to find our inner, unjaded voices again. We need to recall the songs and idealism, the anthems of our youth. Surely, we have not all turned irrevocably to sourpuss disillusioned figments of old age! 

 We need to peel the disfiguring layers over our eyes and souls. Reinvigorate ourselves, open up the valves of hope and idealism, at least a tad. It will be hard, G-d knows -as we have all undergone many body blows. However, somehow, we must stand strong, take as many breaths as necessary until we can at least hum a bar or two of one of our old standards. It definitely feels good. 

Perhaps we can even locate and bring back Mr. Tambourine Man and his clan, ready to play. To send forth that bar of hope, for always   there is one waiting, hoping, knowing, there is a better world out there ready for the remake. Only the notes were missing and here they are again.  

Joining in the chorus of hope we hear the voices of the Turtles and the words of Ecclesiastes:

"To everything turn, turn, turn
There is a season turn, turn, turn
And a time to every purpose under Heaven

A time to gain, a time to lose.
A time to rain, a time of snow.

A time for love, a time for hate
A time for peace, I swear it's not too late."

 Surely, if I. pessimistic and jaded as I have become, can feel and hear that little bird of hope chirping nearby, so can the rest of us. If we want. If our ears are open along with our hearts. If and if and if.

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

  Yitzy, sweet boy, you are one of the body blows, one from which it is very difficult to recover. We are still bent in grief. Perhaps one day the pain will be less sharp, though not now. Not now.

Miss you much.

Love you more.  

Always and forever. Always and forever.      

LESSON LEARNED - MAYBE

 Thank you for your patience re no posting yesterday. Unfortunately, a procedure generally taking between an half hour and an hour ended up taking six and a half and additional necessities meaning that I am not done yet. Oh, great! Hoping the results bared before the glaring sunlight will be the first step in assessing future requirements. Hoping that there will not be too much reparative damage to take care of, for certainly, I had not expected a hitherto unknown kinship with the Frankenstein family of Transylvania to be revealed! I am hoping that the revelation today, of what is beneath those bandages will be not as bad as feared and in fact, will be eminently repairable. Until such a time, my fervent wish is that I do not scare little children until all is over and a positive result is there for all to see. Perhaps it is vanity, when things could have been worse, but still ......  

One lesson learned - to be optimistic rather than pessimistic, though this will be difficult, for generally, the glass half empty is my take on things, safer less disappointing path.  Maybe. But life does go on and adjustments are part of life. In the meanwhile, the world will not stop on its axis waiting for one to take care of individual situations. Hopefully repairable situations.  In the meanwhile, our so lovely world is spinning rather out of focus, in a rhythm guaranteed to induce nausea and fear deep within one's soul. 

We, all the little cogs in the machinery of the world, wonder if there is some healing oil for the endangered and challenged machinery of life, along with a qualified licensed mechanic to use that oil just so. Voila! A return to better possibilities and a future. If only it were so simple. If only. But it is not. No magic oil, no magic cure-all pill. The only cure is within us. Our efforts. Our abilities. Our desires to make it better for all. 

Can we do that, this humanity sectored off into such different conflicting zones. Will the greed of individuals and nations become sublimated to the     needs of the many, the elusive and true peace we so desperately need and desire to be found and lived - as it should be? Only in cooperative work and manner can we be hopeful of success or at least progress. Shared worries and concerns appear more manageable. Anger and hate will dissipate when these problems ease and are greatly minimized. 

We hope and pray but do we continue on that difficult road, or do we hop over the divide onto that tempting shiny one, little knowing that impediments to success, to a future, are there, just down the road. So shiny a road, so smooth, lacking the nausea inducing bumps and unevenness of the present road of humanity. The choice is Hobbesian. If we remain on the present road, all enthusiasm and initial energies will dissipate in the face of the seemingly insurmountable blockades. We will find another wheel needing oil, with said oil and mechanic nowhere to be found. 

If we chose to hop over to the 'easier' one, we will discover, soon enough, just round the blind bend in the road, straight ahead, we have simply gone from that hot kettle directly into the flames of the fire. That fire will roar with the power of the Devil, no escape, choice made, no going back, certainly not now or in the foreseeable future. To live with or die by. Remember that glass of water and its level.  Which is the interpretation chosen - half full or half empty?

Following is an excerpt from a most moving article written by a mother in the worst situation of a parent - the hopelessness as one watches a beloved child deteriorate and all one can do is - nothing. But is that true? Think about it and its message, applicable for and to all of life.

 " Imagine being introduced to a 20-foot-tall fire-breathing monster with spikes poking out of its body and fire blowing from its mouth. The person introducing you explains that the monster is now going to be living with you...Most of the time, it will sit quietly in the guest room. Other times it will poke its head out and breathe a bit of fire your way or bump into you in the hallway just to remind you it's there.

You know that one day the monster will swallow you whole, but you don't know when that will happen. In the meantime, you build a life.

 ...The monster was set free. ... the monster just kept spreading its tentacles.

I learned that not everything can be solved. ...  joy and sorrow can live together, that each becomes more powerful because of the other.

If joy and sorrow can live together, surely hope and action can, too. The first step is awareness, "

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Yitzy. your parents were heartbroken and struggled to do their best, even as they became more aware that the best was not enough. Instead of total despair and helplessness, they made the best of a lousy situation, and the family grew even closer knit  than before, to an unbelievable, heartwarming degree which has remained at that level.

   Yitzy, you, your parents, your family, have been role models for an entire community and even beyond the borders of that local community.   

We so love you, miss that wide grin, those shining eyes, the depth of your thoughts.  

WE MISS YOU.

Always and forever.

 Always and forever. 

NO POST Today

 

ASKED AND ANSWERED

  Yesterday's question of Ayeka has been answered. The answer we were hoping for, perhaps stupidly naive, was a resounding wake-up call of Hineni. I, we, are here, where we belong, and will recognize and act on that realization. I might as well have wished for a direct GPS or Waze route to the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

 Instead, what I saw, read, internalized, yet again, is the fact that there are no righteous Hineni responses when it comes to the issues of vehement antisemitism, even as it is more and more co-opted by rabid haters. Antisemitism now is almost a rather benign, boys will be boys, sentiment in comparison to the vicious, visceral JewHatred emerging from the filthy scum of that ilk. Even as the inevitable deluded Jews seeking salvation play the game of "Roll over Doggie" and cooperate with the haters, desperately trying to increase the distance between them, the good doggies, and the claimed to be evil pack of the mongrels and curs, the bad doggies. All to no avail. Merely a slight delay and then, well, there ya' go.  

A non-hineni answer: Israel is at fault for not redeeming their hostages for, as Qatar states, time is running out for them. Well, that is a great big duh! Whose responsibility or guilt and shame is it, as in who began this bloody disaster in the first place? Who attacked whom in a rather savage, barbaric attack reminiscent of attacks of old, seen in epic movies, now brought to a cheering world in full living color. Then these beasts claim victimhood, whine re crises never truly realizing, and are given not only the key to a house but to many houses, to be paid for by the truly aggrieved, offended, attacked victims of this most inhumane criminal attack.  

 Then again, what else should we have expected? A right to defend ourselves, ensure no repetition of said brutality? History has told us time and time again that a Jew who resists, who fights back, with all focus and weapons available, is deemed a Jew not playing the game according to rules already in place. Not very sportsmanlike, those Jews as they discard the rules and play with their own set.  Outrageous!

As a consequence for their failings, for failing to die when expected to; for demanding 'equal pay'; for refusing to admit guilt where there is none; for demanding the right to their own state on well documented ancestral lands; and the right to protect their citizens and act on behalf of all world Jewry in places of danger and persecution; for demanding accountability from and of those who believe that Jews are an always available assailable prey; for all these offenses and more, we, the citizens  deem it open season on Jews, open season on developing viral antisemitism, open season to ramp up the violence and turn existential threat to reality. Always open season to demand recompense for the costs of a war we began. Always, the victory is to be ours.

You might ask where is justice, righteousness, truth? For that I refer you to the perennial answer - Bah! Humbug!  Hence no shyness at demanding that Israel sign a suicidal pact if there is agreement, acceptance, approval, from Hamas! The offenders asked to pluck victory from defeat. Get rewarded for inhumanity. Get the picture? 

Who remain alive? Who are the bodies, and have they been identified? Where is the location of all hostages and are the distressed conditions related to body and soul, for in that case, all hostages must be released. Pronto!! Where are the two kids never repatriated? Where the hell are the Bibas family members - mother father, two babies. WHERE???       WHERE ARE THEY?

There is no shortage of proof of the growing danger to Jews. No lack of proof to document the awful truth of our times.

 Ayeka, world. Ayeka/ 

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Yitzy, bad times for the world, massively bad for our people. We lift our eyes to the mountains but are seeing no help, at least none yet.     

 Always we will hold you close to our hearts, always living in our minds  and eyes. Love you, beyond the ability of words to explain or portray. 

Always and forever. Always and forever.