השעה בארץ ישראל
...To Haveil Havalim #288, which was up and running almost a week ago (sigh; this is getting to be a habit, my forgetting things) at Isramom's blog. Well, you know what they say. Shoulda, woulda, coulda. . .
Maybe I'll be able to blog a little more frequently after parent/teacher conferences. Nah. Just kidding.
(But I miss it...)
Thank you to Arlene Kushner for sending the link to this video. I have written about Wafa Sultan before, way back in 2006, here. This religion is what the liberal fools of the world want to tolerate, and they call anyone who speaks his or her mind expressing fear of someone in Muslim garb--case in point: Juan Williams, subsequently fired from NPR radio-- a "bigot." More power to brave people such as Geert Wilders and Wafa Sultan. May they enlighten us all, before it's too late.
I'm probably the last one who saw this (it's at least a week old today), but it's good enough to post, even late. And some of my readers may not have seen this, so here for your pleasure is Latma TV's latest sarcastic video, "Obama's Underwater Fantasy." The only place Israel could be accepted by the world to have a state of its own. Right. You should live so long.
The latest and newest Jewish Blog Carnival, Haveil Havalim (for those readers with no knowledge of Hebrew, the title translates to "Vanity of Vanities") #287 is up and running at Cosmic X. Yours truly is not in it, but that is because I have not been blogging lately. It is still chock full o' great articles, just waiting for your perusal, so, to paraphrase the title of yesterday's Torah portion, Lech Lecha ("go forth for yourself") to Cosmic X and read 'em!
Everyone is screaming about Israel's not making 'concessions for peace,' lately by not extending the construction freeze in Jerusalem. I don't hear anyone saying a word about the so-called Palestinians (who amazingly didn't exist in 1948. Somehow then, they were just "Arabs") not recognizing the state of Israel and that being an obstacle for peace.
Finally there is someone (Michael B. Oren) who actually noticed that discrepancy and wrote about it in the New York Times:
Affirmation of Israel’s Jewishness, however, is the very foundation of peace, its DNA. Just as Israel recognizes the existence of a Palestinian people with an inalienable right to self-determination in its homeland, so, too, must the Palestinians accede to the Jewish people’s 3,000-year connection to our homeland and our right to sovereignty there. This mutual acceptance is essential if both peoples are to live side by side in two states in genuine and lasting peace.The fact that this recognition is not happening is to me absolute proof that all these 'peace talks' are a sham. You can't have peace talks with an opponent who doesn't even recognize your legitimacy. Why should Israel recognize the legitimacy of the Arabs to a section of the formerly-called Palestine? There is no good reason. Because the underlying purpose of the Arabs' non-recognition of the Jewish State, is not to create a state of their own--because if that were the case, the Arabs would have concentrated since 1967 on building an infrastructure for such a state--it is rather, to hasten Israel's dissolution.
I should start out by saying, thank G-d I found a job! I'm back to teaching, this time little ones, toddler age, at a wonderful preschool which (unfortunately) is very far from my home, but--what can one do?!
Because of this, I have very little time for blogging, let alone even being on the PC! What I now need a computer for, is WORK (translation: gotta getta laptop!) Unfortunately, the bank account won't allow for that at this time...
Kids are amazing, although it is very tiring work, demanding high energy levels (and my knees are protesting vociferously!!). But it is wonderful how a child's personality develops, and how excited and interested they are in the world around them. And it is a privilege that I can make a positive difference in a child's life. I remember how difficult a childhood I had, and how adults around me, including teachers, were not understanding and empathetic. This may be a part of the reasons I went into teaching, almost straight out of college. I knew that I could give a child the love, acceptance and understanding he or she needed, in order to positively face the future and be excited about life.
A while back I posted a video along the lines of Art Linkletter's (remember him?) "Kids Say the Darndest Things," but video style: kids DO the darndest things. I believe it's time to re-post it now. Enjoy. So, as teaching is the kind of job you don't leave at the "office" when it's closing time, but rather take the work home with you--lesson planning, making up portfolios, preparing for parent/teacher conferences--all I can say is, I will blog when I can...thanks for still being loyal readers--you are what makes this blog!
Thanks to Arlene from Israel I learned about a certain rabbi's sermon that was given in Atlanta, Georgia, which really hit the mark as far as recognizing that "giant elephant in the room" to which no one ever refers.
The Rabbi is Shalom Lewis of Congregation Etz Chaim, and he gave this powerful sermon for the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashana. I am excerpting portions here, but you absolutely must read it in its entirety which you can do by going to the synagogue's website (click on the link above).
The Rabbi (as any good rabbi would do) begins his sermon with a story. This, however, is a disturbing story which serves to illustrate his point: that the world is topsy-turvy, that black is white and white is black, that good is thought of as evil and evil, good.
Many years ago a Chassid used to travel from shtetl to shtetl selling holy books. On one occasion he came to a wealthy land owner and asked if he would like to purchase a book of Torah teachings. The banker agreed and not only purchased the book, but paid for it with a hundred ruble note. He then began to chat with the Chassid and offered him a cigar, taking one also for himself. The Chassid noticed that the banker proceeded torip a page from the holy book he had just bought and holding it to the open flame on the stove, used the page to light his cigar. The Chassid said not a word but simply drew out from his pocket the 100 ruble note he had just received from the banker, held it over the stove as well and used it to light his cigar.
This simple, little tale reflects a profound divergence of values. Our sympathy clearly and instinctively is not with the banker but with the pious Chassid. None of us would come to the defense of the banker. None of us would claim moral supremacy for the banker. None of us would justify his boorish deed. As the sages of the Talmud would say – “Pshita – It is so obvious.” Sadly though our planet is immersed in perversity where morality is not so manifest – where the book burner is a hero and the pious one, a villain.
I thought long and I thought hard on whether to deliver the sermon I am about to share. We all wish to bounce happily out of shul on the High Holidays, filled with warm fuzzies, ready to gobble up our brisket, our honey cakes and our kugel. We want to be shaken and stirred – but not too much. We want to be guiltschlepped – but not too much. We want to be provoked but not too much. We want to be transformed but not too much.
I get it, but as a rabbi I have a compelling obligation, a responsibility to articulate what is in my heart and what I passionately believe must be said and must be heard. And so, I am guided not by what is easy to say but by what is painful to express. I am guided not by the frivolous but by the serious. I am guided not by delicacy but by urgency.
We are at war. We are at war with an enemy as savage, as voracious, as heartless as the Nazis but one wouldn’t know it from our behavior. During WWII we didn’t refer to storm troopers as freedom fighters. We didn’t call the Gestapo, militants. We didn’t see the attacks on our Merchant Marine as acts by rogue sailors. We did not justify the Nazis rise to power as our fault. We did not grovel before the Nazis, thumping our hearts and confessing to abusing and mistreating and humiliating the German people.
Rabbi Lewis contrasted our attitude towards the enemy during World War II with our fearfulness in even naming the enemy in the present conflicts with the Muslims--which they themselves started with aggressive attacks on the West:We did not apologize for Dresden, nor for The Battle of the Bulge, nor for El Alamein, nor for D-Day. Evil – ultimate, irreconcilable, evil threatened us and Roosevelt and Churchill had moral clarity and an exquisite understanding of what was at stake. It was not just the Sudetenland, not just Tubruk, not just Vienna, not just Casablanca. It was the entire planet. Read history and be shocked at how frighteningly close Hitler came to creating a Pax Germana on every continent.
"...In WWII we won because we got it. We understood who the enemy was and we knew that the end had to be unconditional and absolute. We did not stumble around worrying about offending the Nazis. We did not measure every word so as not to upset our foe. We built planes and tanks and battleships and went to war to win….. to rid the world of malevolence.As I said, read the whole article, and see how at least one man has the courage to 'tell it like it is,' without concern for political correctness or personal popularity among his congregants. It only takes one brave individual to make a sea-change, and by doing so, possibly change the world. Hopefully, before it's too late. . .
"We are at war… yet too many stubbornly and foolishly don’t put the pieces together and refuse to identify the evil doers. We are circumspect and disgracefully politically correct.
The latest Haveil Havallim, #285, entitled "Back to the Beginning"--a very apt title, as we just finished the annual cycle of the reading of the Torah and are starting all over again with Breisheet (Genesis)--is now up and running at Frume Sarah's.
(Was that a long, run-on sentence or what?)
Posts
All Comments
