Thursday, 9 April 2009

Israel Matzav: Biased headline of the day#links#links

Israel Matzav: Biased headline of the day#links#links

Israel Matzav: Saudis not happy with Obama either#links#links

Israel Matzav: Saudis not happy with Obama either#links#links

Israel Matzav: Could it happen again?#links#links

Israel Matzav: Could it happen again?#links#links

Israel Matzav: Sanity returns to the Israeli court system?#links#links

Israel Matzav: Sanity returns to the Israeli court system?#links#links

Israel Matzav: Chag Kasher v'Sameyach - A Happy and Kosher Passover everyone!#links#links

Israel Matzav: Chag Kasher v'Sameyach - A Happy and Kosher Passover everyone!#links#links

Israel Matzav: The sun re-sets#links#links#links

Israel Matzav: The sun re-sets#links#links#links

KOSHER CDOs


In a few hours it will be Pessach (Passover). We've been cleaning for weeks, hunting and destroying all vestiges of chametz (bread, yeast, etc), in the Jewish version of Spring Cleaning. Thank God that's behind us!

A thousand years ago or more, a sack of legumes in Europe was found to contain - horror of horrors! a few grains of wheat. Immediately, the local rabbis added legumes to the list of forbidden food for Pessach. The Sephardi rabbis, meanwhile, didn't loose their cool, and moved on to the next sack. Thus was born one of the more significant differences between Ashkenazi and Sephardi Jews: that the Ashkenazi ones eat very little over Pessach, while the Sephardi ones do without bread but mostly get on with life.

A thousand years later, the divide has broadened far beyond what anyone could ever have imagined. The Sephardi Jews (about half of the Israelis), are busy using modern food technology to invent yeast-less alternatives for just about every food product you can think of except whole wheat bread, to the extent that Pessach for them is no more bothersome than a mild itch.

The Ashkenazi folks, meanwhile, have taken the opposite track. Legumes, you see, have derivatives. Vegetable oil, for example. So any food with vegetable oil must be prohibited, obviously. Vegetable oil has its derivatives: sardines, for example, which are canned in it. OUT! CHAMETZ! Modern food processing being what it is, the danger of legume derivatives is, however, far worse even than that. Many types of cheese, for example, are processed in factories within sight of roads on which drivers may travel with sardine sandwiches in their glove compartments: HA! NO CHEESE!

I spoof you not. The art of derivatives of derivatives of derivatives which recently brought down the world economy could easily have been foreseen, had anyone given it any thought, by observing the sheer idiocy with which we Ashkenazi folks root out any shades of memories of that unfortunately poorly packed sack of Humus somewhere along the Upper Rhine in the year 867 Anno Domini.

Chag Sameach - Have a fine holiday. Easter, too.


taken from:Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations (http://yaacovlozowick.blogspot.com/)

IS EUROPE DYING ?


The Economist reviews a new book by Jonathan Bate, Soul of the Age; A Biography of the Mind of William Shakespeare. The central device of the book is the assumption that by knowing more about England in Shakespeare's day, we can better understand him.

Of course, with great writers it often goes the opposite way: their perception about their time is so clear it becomes prescience. The problem, of course, is figuring out in real time which of them has it right, and should be heeded, and which are merely bloviating; most of us resolve the matter by projecting prophetic significance on the artists who say what we think, while decrying the blindness or obtuseness of everybody who doesn't agree with us and our preferred artists.

So, in that spirit, you might want to go read Adam Kirsch, Life on Venus: Europe's Last Man, at World Affairs Journal. His article has a decidedly 2003-ish tone to it, with echoes of the Old-Europe-New-America argument: Europe is dying, America is vibrant. Yet it's an interesting read because while two of his exhibits were written in the 1990s, his central exhibit, Ian McEwan's Saturday, would probably be tagged as more American than European in the parameters of that argument. Kirsch's reading, however, is that McEwan is fundamentally European, and moreover, dying European, in the way he resolves the tension between the barbarians and the civilized with a poem, the beauty of which mesmerizes the barbarian. Bollocks, says Kirsch (well, not with that word).

Maybe it's not such a 2003-ish topic. Earlier this week I poked fun at the Guardian for deceiving itself about Obama's intentions for Afghanistan; since it was the Guardian-wing of America that propelled Obama forward in the initial Democratic primary race (though not all the way into the White House: they don't have that power), the issue may soon surface again; if Kirsch is right, it's the meta-narrative of our generation.
taken from:Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations (http://yaacovlozowick.blogspot.com/)

For Zion's Sake: Chag Pesach Sameach!

For Zion's Sake: Chag Pesach Sameach!

Life in Israel: The central Birkat HaChama event of RBS A

Life in Israel: The central Birkat HaChama event of RBS A

Of Redemption, Past (and Present!) | Tzipiyah.com

Of Redemption, Past (and Present!) Tzipiyah.com

Reliving the Coming Out of Egypt | Tzipiyah.com

Reliving the Coming Out of Egypt Tzipiyah.com

50,000 participate in rare prayer ritual for sun at Western Wall - Haaretz - Israel News

50,000 participate in rare prayer ritual for sun at Western Wall - Haaretz - Israel News

Chesler Chronicles » My Prayer for a Passover Miracle

Chesler Chronicles » My Prayer for a Passover Miracle

Wednesday, 8 April 2009

The Muqata: Why Hamas couldn't shoot Stinger Missiles in Gaza

The Muqata: Why Hamas couldn't shoot Stinger Missiles in Gaza

Debbie Schlussel - Sharia's Here: Tennessee Muslims Seek Alcohol-Free "Buffer Zones"

Debbie Schlussel - Sharia's Here: Tennessee Muslims Seek Alcohol-Free "Buffer Zones"

The Torah Revolution: Robert Wood

The Torah Revolution: Robert Wood

Israel Matzav: Video: Toronto Boycott of Israeli wines fails (Toronto Tea Party?)#links#links#links#links#links#links

Israel Matzav: Video: Toronto Boycott of Israeli wines fails (Toronto Tea Party?)#links#links#links#links#links#links

Israel Matzav: US to phase out F-22, may stop funding Arrow 3#links#links

Israel Matzav: US to phase out F-22, may stop funding Arrow 3#links#links

Israel Matzav: Panic at the Rabin pre-military academy?#links#links

Israel Matzav: Panic at the Rabin pre-military academy?#links#links

Israel Matzav: Rabbis arrested for organizing sun blessing#links#links

Israel Matzav: Rabbis arrested for organizing sun blessing#links#links

Israel Matzav: Exodus#links#links

Israel Matzav: Exodus#links#links

Israel Matzav: Pesach in Mumbai#links#links

Israel Matzav: Pesach in Mumbai#links#links

Israel Matzav: The 'Palestinians' obligations#links#links

Israel Matzav: The 'Palestinians' obligations#links#links

Israel Matzav: Israel: 'We answer to a Higher Authority'#links#links

Israel Matzav: Israel: 'We answer to a Higher Authority'#links#links

Life in Israel: The Pope at the Kotel

Life in Israel: The Pope at the Kotel

OBAMA'S RABBI


Last week Gavin asked me how Jews define themselves. Since I didn't see how I could reasonably clarify that one with less than a small book, I put it aside to wait for a plausible hook to hang it on. Sure enough, one came along, in the surprising story of Michelle Obama's rabbi cousin. Not, as you might think, the story of a Jew who married into her clan, which wouldn't have been all that surprising. No. This is the story of a tradition started late in the 19th century of American blacks identifying with Judaism to the extent they proclaimed themselves Jews; the cousin, Rabbi Capers Funnye, is part of an offshoot of the tradition which actually seems to be serious about their Judaism.

I admit I've never heard of the entire phenomenon. Just goes to show you how varied the Jewish world is, I suppose. Assuming they're Jews. Are they? And how do you know? More importantly, who decides?

One of the books I'm reading, Paula Fredriksen's Augustine and the Jews, tells about many non-Jews who attached themselves to Jewish communities in the pre-Christian period of the Roman Empire. Judaism was different in those days, but the book makes clear that the gentiles remained gentiles, even when supporting the Jewish communities with funds and participating in their communal activities.

And that was probably the last time Judaism was potentially appealing to large numbers of non-Jews for 18-19 centuries. In the interval, you were lucky if you got through a century with your community intact. There must have been movement on the edges, so there was a definition of being Jewish: anyone with a Jewish mother, or who had been converted halachically - which meant, by a rabbi.

In the second half of the 20th century this changed... twice, and in very different ways. It changed in the US, and it changed in Israel.

It changed in the US because, as touched upon in the previous post, for the first time ever it was possible to be an integral part of mainstream society and Jewish society simultaneously; yet Jewish society was taking on a plethora of new forms that would not have been recognizable as Jewish until recently. This meant a significant number of non-Jews were willing to consider joining the Jews, and intermarriage with non-jews while retaining Jewish identity meant the matriarchal definition appeared too narrow. The Jews lost their consensus on what they were, and then on who they were; today's American Jewry is characterized by a diversity and breadth of expression far greater than any previous Jewish community, including the fractured and disparate one of the final generations of the Second Temple Era. American Jews agree, in a general way, that they have a common history, the kingpin of which is the Holocaust; they sort of agree that being Jewish means having a communal or societal conscience, and they more or less sort of agree that Israel is important. The single most important space for Jewish expression is the liturgical area: American Jews tend to identify by belonging to a temple/synagogue/shul congregation.

Meanwhile, in Israel, it all works differently. Jews are the mainstream society. They speak the ancestral language, Hebrew, as their native tongue, and the national calender is Jewish. The state of war we live in is intrinsically tied up with being Jewish, too. Which means being Jewish in Israel is essentially automatic unless you're an Arab or Druze, and need have nothing to do with liturgy, belonging to a congregation, or any of the fundamental aspects of being Jewish in America; on the other hand, since it's the kind of thing you need the willingness to lay your life down for, it's far more serious than it is for many American Jews. The non-Jews in Israel, and halachically there are hundreds of thousands of them, mostly from the former Soviet Union, are in many ways more actively Jewish than most American Jews, even if they have absolutely no connection with a synagogue.

Which leaves the halachically minded orthodox with two separate battles to lose. In America they've lost the argument about conversion, and are retreating into their own enclaves. In Israel, they're losing the argument, too, though it's a very different argument, and their ability to retreat into enclaves is limited; on the other hand, the demographic dynamic means that within a few generations the problem (if it is one) will largely disappear: The Jews in Israel will be Jews, even if some of their forbears were Slavic non-Jews. I won't hazard a guess as to what will happen in America. Perhaps most American Jews will be African Americans who decided they were Jewish.
taken from:Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations (http://yaacovlozowick.blogspot.com/)

50 INFLUENTIAL RABBIS


Newsweek has published its annual list of the 50 most influential American rabbis (and Jeffrey Goldberg nitpicks it here). I can't nitpick it, but I can make some comments, snide or otherwise.

1. What an American idea! You've got Fortune lists of rich folks, halls of fame of the best baseball players, so why not have a list of top rabbis?

2. Only in America, of all diasporas Jews have ever lived in, have they been so at home and part of the surrounding society that it's even vaguely conceivable that a top general publication would think to include them in its remit to such an extent. And even that, only since the 1960s. Where else? Australia, perhaps? Canada? Surely nowhere else, and never before. If you wish, we can argue about this, but don't expect to convince me.
3. As Israelis go, I'm rather well informed about America in general and its Jews, too. At a stretch, I've heard of ten of these 50. I have the ability to string together two sentences about, at most, four. In a Jewish world with two centers, American and Israeli Jews are slowly but inexorably drifting apart; the rest are slowly orbiting around the one or the other.

4. Tho, now that I think of it, I bet 75% of America's Jews don't recognize ten of these 5o, either.

5. The list was put together

by Sony Pictures Entertainment Chairman & CEO Michael Lynton, News Corporation Executive Vice President Gary Ginsberg and JTN Productions CEO Jay Sanderson

Huh?

6. The criteria used were

.Are they known nationally/internationally?
.Do they have political/social influence?
.Do they have a media presence?
.Are they leaders within their communities?
.Are they considered leaders in Judaism or their movements?
.Size of their constituency
.Have they made an impact on Judaism in their career?
.Have they made a "greater" impact?

Which is a telling list of criteria. It seems to me there are only one and a half criteria for the significance of a rabbi.
1. Has he made a lasting contribution to the Jewish discussion that has been going on for millennia? (A sub-set of this would be, is he an important Posek, articulator of Halacha)
2. Is he important to his community (but often this, too, is a subset of the previous one).

We're talking about rabbis, after all. Arguably, David Ben Gurion was the most important Jew of the 20th century, which demonstrates that Jews can be important to the Jewish world, at least the modern Jewish world, without being a rabbi. But that would be a different list.

PS. Don't jump down my throat for using the masculine. I actually expect women to get there, by and by, but that's a different subject.
taken from:Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations (http://yaacovlozowick.blogspot.com/)

THE "REAL" TWO-STATE SOLUTION

THE "REAL" TWO-STATE SOLUTION


Hudson New York
How to Build a Palestinian State

The words and deeds of many Palestinian officials, whether they are from Fatah or Hamas, do not seem to be bringing the Palestinians closer to fulfilling their aspiration of creating a modern and democratic state next to Israel.
In this regard, the Palestinian Authority leaders in the West Bank are continuing to act [and speak] in a way that only radicalizes Palestinians and demonizes Israel and the Jewish people.
Preparing for statehood is not only about building infrastructure and institutions; it is also about educating the people about the importance of living in peace with your neighbors and respecting their right to live insecurity.
Almost every day, the Palestinian Authority, which is dominated by the secular Fatah faction, provides the world with evidence that it is not leading its constituents toward the path of moderation and co-existence. And this is without mentioning what Hamas is saying and doing.
If the Palestinians were serious about building their own state, they should not wait for Israel or any other country to present it to them as a gift.
Had the Palestinian Authority invested perhaps half of the money that went into Yasser Arafat’s secret bank accounts or to support the shopping sprees of his wife in Paris, it is highly likely that the Palestinians would by now have had their own state.
Had the Palestinian leadership built schools, hospitals, universities and housing projects instead of building a casino, there is no doubt that the Palestinians would have had their state several years ago.
Had the Palestinian Authority invested some of the billions of dollars for the welfare of its people, combating poverty and unemployment, it is certain that the Palestinians would not have resorted to violence in September 2000. That is because when the Palestinians launched the second intifada, many people had nothing to lose.
So has the Palestinian Authority since learned from its mistakes?
No.
While it is true that the economic situation in the West Bank has improved in the past two years, largely thanks to the fact that the international donors have finally begun holding Palestinian leaders accountable and are pressing harder for transparency, the messages coming out of the Palestinian leadership are not encouraging.
In the past week alone, the “moderate” Palestinian leadership of President Mahmoud Abbas took two decisions that will only have a negative impact on the future of the “peace process.”
First, Abbas’s representatives dismantled a Palestinian teenager musical band for performing in front of Holocaust survivors in the Israeli city of Holon. An Israeli-Arab woman who was in charge of the ban has been told by Abbas’s lieutenants that her life would be in danger if she ever showed her face again in Jenin. Fatah activists later sealed her apartment and confiscated all the musical equipment, accusing her of “exploiting” the children for a “political event” - the Holocaust.
In the second case, Abbas’s Chief Islamic Judge, Tayseer Tamimi, issued another fatwa [religious decree] that imposes the death sentence on any Palestinian who sells his lands to Jews.
And then there is Mohammed Dahlan, one of Fatah’s senior operatives who is closely associated with Abbas, who went on Palestine TV to proudly declare that his faction has never recognized Israel’s right to exist.
He also boasted that as a former security commander he and Fatah had killed more suspected Palestinian “collaborators” with Israel than Hamas.
Dahlan, who has long been hailed by US Administration officials as a “moderate” leader and a staunch supporter of the peace process, even went as far as urging Hamas not to succumb to pressure to accept Israel’s right to exist.
The Palestinian leadership in the West Bank has also been fighting “normalization” with Israel by boycotting Israeli products and banning Palestinian teenagers from participating in joint Jewish-Arab events aimed at promoting tolerance and coexistence.
It is no wonder then that public opinion polls continue to show that Hamas’s popularity is on the rise and that a majority of Palestinians support suicide bombings.
Over the past few weeks, numerous Palestinian spokesmen have been warning against the “dangers” of having a right-wing government in Israel. According to these spokesmen, the rise of Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman to power is an indication of the Israeli public’s shift to the right and the beginning of the end of the “peace process.”
The Palestinian officials say they are particularly worried about Netanyahu’s refusal to accept the two-state solution.
But were these folks expecting? That Netanyahu and Lieberman would give them more than what former prime ministers Ehud Olmert, Ehud Barak, Shimon Peres, Ariel Sharon and Yitzhak Rabin had either given the Palestinians or offered to give them?
There is absolutely no reason why Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanhayu should be worried about American and European pressure on him to accept the two-state solution.
Even if Netanyahu accepted the two-state solution tomorrow, he will quickly discover that the Palestinian Authority in particular and the Palestinians in general are the least prepared for establishing an independent and normal state alongside Israel.
Netanyahu and Lieberman can sit relaxed. Even if they offered the Palestinians a state, they will discover that there is no credible partner, neither in Ramallah nor in the Gaza Strip, to deal with.
Finally, the failure of the Hamas-Fatah “reconciliation” talks means that the world will have to live with the fact that the two-state solution has already been realized. In the end, the Palestinians got two states - a mini-Islamic republic in the Gaza Strip and an incompetent, powerless and unreliable entity in parts of the West Bank.
taken from:B'NAI ELIM (http://bnaielim.blogspot.com/)

Tuesday, 7 April 2009

FILIPE LA FERIA - PORTUGUESE STAGE DIRECTOR

UM VIOLINO NO TELHADO (FIDDLER ON THE ROOF) - CASAMENTEIRA (MATCHMAKER)

UM VIOLINO NO TELHADO (FIDDLER ON THE ROOF) 3

UM VIOLINO NO TELHADO (FIDDLER ON THE ROOF) MEDLEY

UM VIOLINO NO TELHADO (FIDDLER ON THE ROOF) MAKING OF -PART 1

MICHAEL RAMIREZ EDITORIAL AND POLITICAL CARTOONS


Muslim and leftist thugs take over French grocery store | Vlad Tepes

Muslim and leftist thugs take over French grocery store Vlad Tepes

Israel Matzav: Obama's failure on North Korea#links#links

Israel Matzav: Obama's failure on North Korea#links#links

Israel Matzav: Obama's human rights disaster#links#links

Israel Matzav: Obama's human rights disaster#links#links

Israel Matzav: What a difference a leader makes#links#links

Israel Matzav: What a difference a leader makes#links#links

Israel Matzav: Roger Cohen and the Islamists#links#links

Israel Matzav: Roger Cohen and the Islamists#links#links

Israel Matzav: Messiah's times?#links#links#links

Israel Matzav: Messiah's times?#links#links#links

Israel Matzav: Mitchell trying to sell 'Saudi plan' to Israel#links#links#links

Israel Matzav: Mitchell trying to sell 'Saudi plan' to Israel#links#links#links

Israel Matzav: Opening day#links#links#links

Israel Matzav: Opening day#links#links#links

Israel Matzav: Obama okay with Iran enriching uranium?#links#links#links

Israel Matzav: Obama okay with Iran enriching uranium?#links#links#links

Israel Matzav: Netanyahu government 'reconsidering' the road map?#links#links

Israel Matzav: Netanyahu government 'reconsidering' the road map?#links#links

TALK TO HAMAS



Shlomo Avineri gets it right:
According to Hamas, the Jews are responsible for all the ills of modern society - the French Revolution; the Communist revolution; the establishment of secret associations (Freemasons, Rotary and Lions clubs, B'nai B'rith) designed to help them gain control of the world by secret means. They control the economy, press and television; they are responsible for the outbreak of World War I, which they initiated in order to destroy the Muslim caliphates (the Ottoman empire), to get the Balfour Declaration and set up the League of Nations with the aim of establishing their state. They also initiated World War II in order to make a fortune from selling war materials; they use both capitalism and communism as their agents...
But perhaps it is nevertheless worthwhile talking to Hamas - not about its contribution to peace but rather about what is stated in its covenant. Perhaps those who espouse the view that we must talk with Hamas will first talk with it about these subjects? Who knows, perhaps it will change its principles? I do not expect this to happen exactly, but I am certainly curious to know what those who think Hamas is the key to peace in the Middle East will say about these things.

And perhaps they are actually correct, perhaps Hamas is the key. If that's the case, it's difficult to expect that peace can be established in our region.
taken from:Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations (http://yaacovlozowick.blogspot.com/)

GENOCIDE WITH YOGHURT



Here's a book review that shows how history has the ability to reach out of the past and rattle us, no matter how much we pretend to be forward-looking.

Last month, while I was visiting my father in Florida, we had dinner one night with my aunt. We were discussing the way Jim Jones had poisoned 900 of his followers with cyanide-laced Flavor Aid in 1978, and suddenly my aunt was explaining that another way to poison someone is with a yogurt smoothie. "That's how the Turks poisoned your grandmother's classmates in Constantinople in 1915," she said. "They poisoned the tahn."

This story was new to me, and I am 47. But as a second-generation Armenian American, I've found that it's not uncommon for one of these UFO horror stories to materialize out of nowhere over coffee.

Thus begins Chris Bohjalian's review of Armenian Golgotha, by Grigory Balakian. It hardly sounds like a pleasant read, but well may be a necessary one, especially if you're of the persuasion that knowing history and engaging with it is preferable to having it spring on you unawares.

Hitler, by the way, knew his history. He repeatedly told that what he learned from the Armenian genocide was that no-one cared at the time, and no-one remebered afterwards.
taken from:Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations (http://yaacovlozowick.blogspot.com/)

USING INTERNATIONAL LAW IN VAIN



A law professor named George Bisharat yesterday published a pseudo-learned op-ed about how criminal Israel is. Since his terminology was legalese, and I'm not a legal expert, I decided not to comment on his screed. Fortunately, the folks over at Powerline are all attorneys, and John Hinderaker decided to have a look. His verdict:

There was once a time when it would have made sense to wonder why the New York Times would publish such drivel. Now, publishing left-wing drivel is the paper's business plan. Bankruptcy impends.
taken from:Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations (http://yaacovlozowick.blogspot.com/)

RACISM. APARTHEID. T-SHIRTS AND GENERAL CONFUSION





Remember those horrendous IDF T-Shirts? And it's common knowledge that Israel treats its Arab citizens abominably. So here's a story from Haaretz this morning that demonstrates it all. An Arab professor at Haifa University was thrown out of a restaurant when he complained that a bartender was wearing a shirt encouraging the killing of Palestinian children. Ha! Gotcha.



Though if Israeli Jim Crow is that bad, how is he a professor at Haifa University? No matter.



Until you read beyond the headline, where all the damage is, into the article itself. The proprietor of the restaurant is himself an Arab, and he was the one arguing with the client. He insists he threw no-one out, rather the professor stalked out. The (Arab) restaurateur may have said to the (Arab) professor "IF you're a Palestinian, go to Palestine", implying that he, the (Arab) restaurateur prefers to remain an Israeli. And then there's this:


Hajaj said the bartender had never served in the army and was unaware of the message his shirt conveyed. As a result of the incident, the bartender is no longer working at the restaurant.



Now I'm really confused. If the bartender never served in the IDF, where did he get the T shirt? If he can't read its message, who is he? A Phillipino, perhaps? And if he's blameless, why has he been fired? Could it be that Hajaj, the restaurateur, didn't want the attention of the authorities to his practice of employing illegal residents?



I'm speculating, of course. But that's the issue. Something happened at Hajaj's restaurant over the weekend, but what it was we don't know. Haaretz has cherry-picked enough of the facts to make Israel look bad, put them in its headline, added a partial description in the item itself, and demonstrated that it cares not at all about its level of journalism.



taken from:Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations (http://yaacovlozowick.blogspot.com/)

BOYCOTT ISRAEL...AT ANY PRICE !





Even if it means not diagnosing skin cancer. After all, Israel itself is a cancer of sorts, and must be broken. Anyway, this particular discovery is not yet a certainty, so let's hurry up and divest from research projects with Israeli academics. That way the project will fail, and we'll never know if any good might have come from it, so won't need to have any pangs of regrets for our righteousness.



taken from:Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations (http://yaacovlozowick.blogspot.com/)

DoubleTapper: Why didn't Hamas Stinger Missiles work?#links#links#links#links#links#links#links

DoubleTapper: Why didn't Hamas Stinger Missiles work?#links#links#links#links#links#links#links

The Torah Revolution: Re: # 10

The Torah Revolution: Re: # 10

The Torah Revolution: The system is not "ours"

The Torah Revolution: The system is not "ours"

Clearing up a misconception

Clearing up a misconception

Posted using ShareThis

More Shocking Evidence of CNN's Faulty Hiring Policy

More Shocking Evidence of CNN's Faulty Hiring Policy

What to speak with Hamas about - Haaretz - Israel News

What to speak with Hamas about - Haaretz - Israel News

Schindler's list found in Australia library - Haaretz - Israel News

Schindler's list found in Australia library - Haaretz - Israel News

Chesler Chronicles » The Case for Israel: From Treblinka to Glen Cove, Long Island.

Chesler Chronicles » The Case for Israel: From Treblinka to Glen Cove, Long Island.

Monday, 6 April 2009

Finally, harsh realism from Israel - The Boston Globe

Finally, harsh realism from Israel - The Boston Globe

Heidi Kingstone: Anti-Semitism Without Anti-Semites

Heidi Kingstone: Anti-Semitism Without Anti-Semites

Killing of Non-Muslims is Legitimate (British Mullah) - News - Terrorism Awareness Project

Killing of Non-Muslims is Legitimate (British Mullah) - News - Terrorism Awareness Project

SderotMedia.com: News - UNRWA, where is the money going?

SderotMedia.com: News - UNRWA, where is the money going?

IRANIANS AND FOOLS





Jefferey Goldberg has helpfully posted 19 (nineteen) quotes from Iran's president Ahmedinejad in less than four years in which he talks about Israel disappearing. His reason for doing so is that his fellow Atlantic blogger Andrew Sullivan is casting doubt.





Andrew has made an interesting personal journey over the past few years, from an unusual and interesting conservative blogger to boring and predictable left-wing one. Which is fine: many people don't have the intellectual courage to re-examine their fundamental positions anytime after age 22. I personally stopped reading Andrew's blog quite a while ago. Anyone who regards Juan Cole as an authoritative source for information can't be very serious himself. (On which topic, I recommend the comment left here by someone who took the time to listen to some Cole lectures. If Sullivan can't see the dynamic, it's only because he chooses not to). A. Jay Adler, however, has some more informed comments about Andrew, and the sad direction he is now conforming to. He tells that after Goldberg did his research and posted his findings, Andrew read them and pronounced that




Reading them all, it becomes quite clear to me that Ahmadinejad does indeed want Israel to cease to exist, but equally clear that he is not speaking of dropping a nuke on it.




Well, that's certainly comforting, isn't it? Andrew knows the Iranian fellow is merely talking through his hat, and we have nothing to worry about.




I hope no national leaders, in any country, glean their information from the blogosphere. I write this as a (part-time) blogger.





taken from:Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations (http://yaacovlozowick.blogspot.com/)

For Zion's Sake: Pesach- Our Blood is not Cheap!

For Zion's Sake: Pesach- Our Blood is not Cheap!

Israel Matzav: Toronto buys over 500 cases of Israeli wine in half an hour to beat boycott

Israel Matzav: Toronto buys over 500 cases of Israeli wine in half an hour to beat boycott

Israel Matzav: 'Freedom of speech,' Chicago style

Israel Matzav: 'Freedom of speech,' Chicago style

Israel Matzav: A night at the theater, Hamas style

Israel Matzav: A night at the theater, Hamas style

Israel Matzav: 'Our' friends the Saudis?

Israel Matzav: '<i>Our</i>' friends the Saudis?

Israel Matzav: Parents of 16-year old terrorist arrested

Israel Matzav: Parents of 16-year old terrorist arrested

Israel Matzav: Avigdor Lieberman channeling... George Washington?

Israel Matzav: Avigdor Lieberman channeling... George Washington?

Israel Matzav: Fatah has 'resumed' terror activities

Israel Matzav: Fatah has 'resumed' terror activities

Israel Matzav: Why targeted killing?

Israel Matzav: Why targeted killing?

Israel Matzav: What Obama's reaction to North Korea's missile says about Iran

Israel Matzav: What Obama's reaction to North Korea's missile says about Iran

Israel Matzav: Obama administration 'comfortable' with Hezbullah?

Israel Matzav: Obama administration 'comfortable' with Hezbullah?

Israel Matzav: Israel to finally build in E-1?

Israel Matzav: Israel to finally build in E-1?

Israel Matzav: The never-ending bias of the New York Times

Israel Matzav: The never-ending bias of the New York Times

The Spring of the Entire World

The Spring of the Entire World

Posted using ShareThis

PICK THE REALITY YOU WISH FOR

Pick the Reality You Wish For

The Guardian, this morning:
Nato pact to send 5,000 troops for Afghan polls The agreement in Strasbourg to beef up security ahead of elections is being hailed as proof of a new era of co-operation between the United States and Europe.
Nato members are to send 5,000 more troops to Afghanistan to boost security ahead of critical elections, as the country's troubled president was yesterday forced into retreat over a controversial law effectively legalising rape within marriage. The outcome of yesterday's critical summit in Strasbourg will be a relief to Barack Obama, allowing the US president to argue that his offer of a new partnership with Europe has reaped tangible results and ensured the burden of fighting the war on terror is more broadly shared. Yesterday he welcomed the deal as a "strong down payment" on securing Afghanistan's future.
Deep down in the 17th paragraph of the article there is a toned-down admission that many of the promised troops will be sent to Afghanistan only for six months, and then even this:
Obama is committing an extra 21,000 troops, and possibly another 10,000 later in the year. He knows that he will come under sharp domestic pressure to revert to hard power if the mix of charm and intellectual persuasion he has displayed does not lead to tangible European response.
But it's a boring, poorly written article, and one can assume most readers won't get that far down. It does mean, however, that the editors know for a fact that their rendering of the event is not, perhaps, the only possible way of seeing it.

Contrast the depiction of the UK's top Lefty newspaper, then, with that of the New York Times, the top American newspaper and rather lefty itself:

STRASBOURG, France — With protesters raging outside, NATO leaders on Saturday gave a tepid troop commitment to President Obama’s escalating campaign in Afghanistan, mostly committing soldiers only to a temporary security duty...

The Afghan war, too, remained a dividing line for alliance leaders. Despite a glowing reception and widespread praise for Mr. Obama’s style and aims, his calls for a more lasting European troop increase for Afghanistan were politely brushed aside, as they had been in negotiations leading up to the meeting.

As expected, European allies agreed to provide up to 5,000 new troops for Afghanistan, the White House said Saturday. But 3,000 of them are to be deployed only temporarily to provide security for the August elections in Afghanistan.

A further 1,400 to 2,000 soldiers will be sent to form embedded training teams for the Afghan Army and the police.

Mr. Obama is raising the number of American troops this year to about 68,000 from the current 38,000, which will significantly Americanize the war. The new strategy, which the Europeans have pressed for, is aimed at creating larger and better-trained Afghan security forces that can defend the country and allow the West to leave.

The two newspapers are reporting on the same event, so far as I can tell: a big meeting in Strasbourg yesterday. True, there were violent demonstrations only at the NYT meeting, and overall satisfaction and resolute determination in the face of enemies only at the Guardian meeting, but I do think it unlikely that there were two separate events. Or am I wrong?

PS. The NYT article is topped by a picture of violent demonstrators, flying various communist flags. Someone really ought to suggest to those folks that they read Juan Cole's blog: today's fashionable Useful Idiots no longer serve the Kremlin nor read Mao's Little Read Book. Today they cover up for different hateful regimes. Really folks! You're way behind the times!


taken from:Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations ( http://yaacovlozowick.blogspot.com/)

Sefer Chabibi Deepest Torah: RIMNITZER REBBETZIN'S LETTER TO JONATHAN POLLARD

Sefer Chabibi Deepest Torah: RIMNITZER REBBETZIN'S LETTER TO JONATHAN POLLARD

Sunday, 5 April 2009

Life in Israel: Quote of the Day (qotd)

Life in Israel: Quote of the Day (qotd)

Gateway Pundit: Senate Votes to Allow ACORN Funding in Youth Brigades Bill

Gateway Pundit: Senate Votes to Allow ACORN Funding in Youth Brigades Bill

YouTube - Obama nominee supports Islamic Sharia law in U.S.

YouTube - Obama nominee supports Islamic Sharia law in U.S.

YouTube - Islamification: an Infidel Warning!

YouTube - Islamification: an Infidel Warning!

Disaster Preparedness Blog - Emergency Preparedness Tips, Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Emergency Management - Disaster Preparedness Blog - Obama Wants To Kill Missile Defense, This Is Why You Should Not Let That Happen

Disaster Preparedness Blog - Emergency Preparedness Tips, Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Emergency Management - Disaster Preparedness Blog - Obama Wants To Kill Missile Defense, This Is Why You Should Not Let That Happen

The essential history - The Spectator

The essential history - The Spectator

Israel Matzav: Israel's attack on Iran is coming#links#links

Israel Matzav: Israel's attack on Iran is coming#links#links

Israel Matzav: Pirates seek to board Israeli cargo ship off Somalia#links#links

Israel Matzav: Pirates seek to board Israeli cargo ship off Somalia#links#links

Israel Matzav: 16-year old girl with gun attacks border police station#links#links

Israel Matzav: 16-year old girl with gun attacks border police station#links#links

KILLING A CHILD



A young Arab woman appeared at the gate of a Border Police base and started shooting. The Border Police is a unit with an unusually high percentage of Arabic-speaking Israelis, and they tried to talk to her in her own language, but she kept on shooting. Eventually an officer arrived and killed her. After her death it turned out she was only 16 years old, something that wasn't clear while she was behind the gun.


According to a Hebrew-language report, it's not clear if she was motivated by nationalist considerations or was trying to clear herself of honor defamation, though why shooting soldiers would clear her name of going on a date I cannot say.


Sooner or later she'll appear in a statistic about Palestinian children killed by Israeli troops.


taken from:Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations (http://yaacovlozowick.blogspot.com/)

RIGHT AND WRONG EVEN AMONGST THE SHADOWS



Yesterday a Palestinian man armed himself with an ax and made his way to a Jewish settlement to murder civilians (there's no army base there). Once there he hacked a child to death, started on an even smaller child, was then stopped by a local, but managed to escape. Since the security forces know who he is, it's only a matter of time before he's caught.


There are additional parts of the story, that make for all sorts of shadows, though they're shadows that can work in both directions. Oddly, this blog doesn't seem to attract many pro-Palestinian readers, or even plain antisemites who couldn't give a damn about the Palestinians but love them for their enmity to Israel, but I encourage those who are here to register their comments about those shadows, that I may hold them up to light.


Until then, however, note the fundamental difference between Israel and the Palestinians. Remember the squall of hand-wringing we had recently about some Palestinian civilians who weren't shot? Not to mention the larger question of waging war in Gaza. Compare that to this: the coldblooded murder of children, and silence at best from the society of the perpetrator; in some future round of negotiations the murderer will be sprung from an Israeli jail as a freedom fighter whose return home is a necessary condition of normal relations.
taken from:Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations (http://yaacovlozowick.blogspot.com/)

THE WIZARD OF OZ - THE MAN BEHIND THE CURTAIN



The Wizard of Oz or, the Man behind the Curtain… aka Obama



by Arlene Peck



After living in Marina del Rey, California, and being in the film industry for the past twenty years, I've accepted living in La La Land… better known as the Land of Oz. However, I don't know how much more I can handle the Obama worship. They wanted “change” and we are getting it! Our founders would drop dead all over again if they saw how Obama has already turned America into a Socialist nation.



Everything is changing, yet, too much is staying the same. I know that we, as a nation, have “dumbed down” considerably over the past few years. However, it wasn’t so long ago that you should have forgotten the campaign promises of Candidate Obama.



Remember the teleprompter speeches where he, as a candidate, said, “I don’t tolerate earmarks!! If necessary, when bills that have them are placed on my desk I will go over each and every one of them, if necessary line by line”!



Yeah, right. Until he had a bill that he wanted passed, and the Messiah conveniently forgets to note the almost 9,000 pork bills that he wanted passed for an additional trillion dollars. We’re at almost ten trillion or, is that zillion, and climbing. I don’t know how you feel about his financial “leadership” but it scares the hell out of me.



I tried; but, I can’t wait until the first hundred days to mention how minute by minute, we're sinking into the abyss of socialism with the new government's idea “change.” Change? We got it, all right. And now, I’ve just about lost hope.



Did I mention that Obama was the second largest recipient of the AIG “donations?” He almost made #1 on that list of AIG largesse with $101,332; but, Sen. Chris Dodd won that “lottery” and came in first at $103,332. Gee, has anyone asked him to “donate” that back to “the people?” I don’t remember even hearing about it much.



But, truth be told, that is only a drop in the bucket of my concerns. Do any of you remember any discussions of AIG’s promotion of Sharia (Islamic law) in its Takaful division? That, for you novices like me, is the Sharia-compliant insurance section of AIG. For you doubters out there who think I’m on another hate speech rampage, why don’t you go to the AIG Takaful web site where they gleefully tell you it, “Avoids prohibited elements in accordance with Sharia law.” Also, “We do not invest in anything that is haram (prohibited under Sharia). We do not borrow, lend or enter into any financial transaction that is not Islamic.”



So, now the American taxpayer is directly funding sectarian Islamic religious activities. Don’t believe me? Go check out a lawsuit being conducted by the Thomas Moore Law Center against the government. Or, Google either one of the only two elected officials, Representative Myrick, R NC, or Frank Wolf, R-VA, who have publicly come out against the US government’s AIG Sharia-bailout.




Hmm, I wonder if Messiah Obama knew of the Islamic ties when he collected his money. Even if he didn’t, do you think his involvement right? Now that I think of it, the man who swore he’d never consider using lobbyist and now has an administration full of them. He even hired as Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel, who before his job for Obama earned at least $320,000 in a 14-month stint on the board of mortgage giant, Freddie Mac. Gee, I wonder if he’s going to receive a multi-million dollar severance from them. I’ll bet, though, you never even knew that … did you?



Amazing that in such a short period of time, his administration has been able to carefully construct a series of conditions in which he is the head honcho of manipulation. Obama is working non-stop and, as a result, we are now a socialist nation. A once democratic nation now has a new agenda under which everything will continue to be controlled by massive government bureaucracy.



Truthfully folks, can you name me one area where government has been the solution of anything?



As President Regan once said, "government is never the solution... it is the problem!"How can we trust that the people who got us into this mess in the first place will now get us out? We are creating a culture which contrary to the American spirit.



Remember when he said, before the election, that he intends to spread the wealth? And, Obama announced himself as a “citizen of the world.” Well, folks, I am having a lot of difficulty with that concept. You see, I grew up as a citizen of the USA. My parents were charitable and gave to good causes. But, they were old fashioned enough to believe with hard work and education anyone could become successful. I was taught those same ethics and did my best to pass them on to my children.



They did little jobs around the house to earn their allowances. They sold cookies and flower seeds as class projects. My son even went to work for the newspaper and became a “group leader” in high school, which gave him an override on the people they sold subscriptions too! My daughters had the entrepreneurial spirit and started their own “businesses.” This, I believe, was the foundation of the success that they've achieved today. Now however, I’m seeing the basic principles that I've tried to live by being destroyed. The new “leadership,” or lack thereof, is teaching that individual achievement is a “bad thing;” all they need to do is have trust in the government and everything will be just fine as individual leadership and ambition are crushed.



Obama and company are on a 'fast track' to restructure everything from education and medical care, to interfering with your charitable donations. Soon, it will be the charity that the government deems appropriate;



Recently, I went to the library and checked out the classic "Atlas Shrugged" by Ayn Rand. We have become so dumbed down that I'm almost grateful that books such as this and George Orwell’s "1984" haven't been banned or burned. Yet. Entire schools of enlightenment have sprung up because of the philosophy we learned from them. What is so upsetting is that they were written in the 1930's, and we are living everything that was predicted so long ago? Big Brother is now in our lives ... big time. And, folks, I don't like it one bit.



I'm neither a Republican nor a Democrat. I blame both of these inept parties for the mess that we find ourselves in today. What I find astounding is how a full twenty-five percent of these people who are in our House of Representatives, Senate and Executive branch of our government, not only got us into this depression, but have never had a “real job.” And, this goes double for our illustrious president.



A moron should be able see that we, as a nation, are on a fast road to financial disaster. The budget that our vacuum of leadership has created is beyond financial irresponsibility, it’s criminal! And, because Obama is charming, my neighbors believe him when he praises Timothy Geithner, the same way he once touted Rev. Wright.



When my son was in high school and had his “team,” he had to keep records about the progress or lack thereof; he had to keep showing what they were doing. Yet, this body of people went right into politics from college and haven't a clue as to what is needed in the “real world” to earn a living. Yet, these are the people that we, in our stupidity, have turned over our finances and allowed to quadruple debt for future generations, in order to 'bail us out of the disaster that they created in the first place.



What gives Obama the experience to tell the country how and where their savings are going to go? What in his background gives him the knowledge to know what we should be doing to get out of this quagmire of gook that we find ourselves?



Certainly not from his years of working as a county organizer. Or, his close relationship with the dubious organization, "Acorn?” If I had my druthers, I'd feel a lot more comfortable if there were men like Bill Gates, Michael Bloomberg, Sam Walton, Steve Forbes, etc., or even, Oprah, giving directions of how we should be handling our finances. These are men and women who actually know how to run businesses and make money. That won't happen because such people are now in the process of being demonized and soon will the enemy as the filthy rich.



And, speaking of that, I find it ironic that so many of my neighbors in the film industry not only supported Obama, but also contributed heavily to his campaign. It wasn’t so long ago that the “Hollywood crowd” was a “good thing;” but these people were stupid enough to think that the euphoria would continue once their “friend in Washington” got into power. It’s amazing how shocked they were, SHOCKED, to have not even been invited to the inauguration.



My goodness, do you think that they are getting a taste of what the big donors from Israel who live out here are also beginning to experience. The truth is emerging that Mr. Obama ain’t no friend of Israel. The columns are already beginning to emerge that Israel’s leaders are being snubbed by the White House.



Frankly, I hope it continues because my gut feeling is that when he does have a minute to devote to his solutions in the Middle East, it’s going to be nothing but harmful to the Jewish state. In fact, one of the first items on Obama’s agenda was to give over a billion, with a “B” of our hard earned dollars to support Hamas terrorism under the guise of rebuilding Gaza. The translation to that is that Hamas will take that money and spend it to re-arm itself and build more tunnels in order to complete its stated mission: Israeli genocide.

taken from:B'NAI ELIM (http://bnaielim.blogspot.com/)

DoubleTapper: President Obama in Living Color

DoubleTapper: President Obama in Living Color

The Torah Revolution: Re: # 3

The Torah Revolution: Re: # 3

The Torah Revolution: The "law's" lunga manus

The Torah Revolution: The "law's" lunga manus

Fear Of Jewish Revenge Attack ?

Fear Of Jewish Revenge Attack ? #links#links#links
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...