Tikkun Olam

Again peaceful Muslims have reared their ugly, barbaric head, murdering four American diplomats including the ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens , in a rampage against the U.S. embassy in Benghazi supposedly in retaliation against a movie which paints a portrait of the founder of Islam, the "prophet" Muhammad, in a negative light.  The film, which this writer hasn't seen nor the 14 minute trailer, purportedly presents Muhammad, among other things,  as a womanizer, child abuser and a ruthless murderer. We don't know the absolute truth about what sort of human being he was, because of the "serious scholarly controversies" about Islam.  An ex-Muslim, Ibn Warraq , critiqued his former religion, Islam, and wrote several books , indicating why he is no longer a Muslim, and why the authenticity of the Qur'an is in question. More than one hundred years ago Western scholars began to investigate the origins of Islam, using the highest standards of objective h...

For Rosh Hashana I am posting this Latma TV video--have to bake my challot and my D.H. and I have to cook up a storm.  I wish all my readers (and also those who are not!) a Ktivah ve-Chatimah Tovah: may you be written and sealed for a good year. Shanah Tovah, everyone!

My daughter Rambo, in addition to talking to me almost every day, often calls me on whims, to inform me of something minor or ask a question.  She recently called me to ask a "classical" question, (saying that I am her ' classical Google source ') about a musical piece she could hum a few bars of--specifically, the powerful opening sequence of string arpeggios going down the scale.  At first she said "Beethoven," but something told me not.  After searching Beethoven symphonies on YouTube, I suddenly thought, "Vivaldi," thinking of his "Four Seasons." Searched again, and found it.  It is Vivaldi's "Storm."  Here it is.  Feast your ears.

After writing on how awful I felt about the Rachel Corrie event so many years ago, and how no good has come from it on any side: her family bereft, the Arabs still terrorizing, and Israel still being vilified--I came across this, stating that CNN's photos of Rachel Corrie before and after being run over by a bulldozer might have been manipulated .  As has happened in so many previous so-called "news reports" on incidents in Israel, one cannot assume that they and their accompanying photographs, are TRUTH. Much has been written about how the Rachel Corrie case was handled in the courtroom. Yet all the while, a more subtle judgment has been taking place in the court of public opinion. So while the Israeli court ruled that Corrie’s 2003 death was an accident – given that the bulldozer driver was unable to detect Corrie’s presence – that ruling did not stop CNN from promoting the canard that Corrie was “intentionally murdered.” In describing the verdict, a CNN vi...

As seen in The Times of Israel , discovered by a couple who bought an apartment in a university town in Germany were two paintings of a Nazi officer and his wife, on the back of two portions of Torah scrolls, the sections of the parshiyot * clearly visible and readable.  This is reminiscent of the paving of the streets with Jewish gravestones . I've reprinted an excerpt here.  The link above is the entire article.  The depravity of the perpetrators of the Holocaust and the world which stood silently by will haunt them (and ourselves) for years to come... In January 2011, a pair of unique objects turned up in the ancient university town of Tübingen, Germany, when a Christian theology instructor and his wife bought a new apartment, occupied by an elderly, reclusive man. Shortly after the purchase, the man died, and his possessions fell into the hands of the new owners. Among these possessions were two original oil paintings depicting a uniformed Nazi German...

I was tempted to write when I had read that an Israeli court had exonerated the army and bulldozer driver from responsibility in Rachel Corrie's tragic death in 2003.  But I didn't.  It was too troubling to me. Then just last week I read a little more, especially about the ISM (hat tip Daled Amos ), and decided that I had to express how I view this awful event. I see this from several sides, from the Israeli side, who were within their right, destroying houses of terrorists and/or terrorist supporters and who had warned those ISM members (including Rachel Corrie) who were protesting the demolition that they were not supposed to be in what was a closed military zone and were taking great personal risk to be there. Although I absolutely disagree with what she was doing and her support of the Israeli-hating Arabs, I understand why a misguided, naive young girl of 23 could be duped into such activism: in her mind, she supported the poor, oppressed Palestinians who lived under th...

My son in Efrat will absolutely love this one: a Jewish American businessman and a Canadian philanthropist are joining together to build an Olympic-sized ice skating rink in Israel--but not near where the existing one is in Metula--which is practically in Lebanon--but rather in the Merkaz , in central Israel, either Netanya, Rishon LeTzion or Bat-Yam.   Israelis wishing to go ice skating or compete in ice hockey are forced to travel all the way to the northern town of Metula, but this may soon change thanks to a Jewish American businessman and a Canadian philanthropist. The two are holding talks with at least three cities in a bid to build the first Olympic ice stadium in central Israel , including Netanya, Rishon Lezion and Bat Yam. The popularity of the ice hockey sport in Israel has been growing in recent years. Sidney Greenberg is a Jewish Canadian philanthropist who supports this sport in Israel. He has been funding a Jewish-Arab ice hockey school in nor...