Tikkun Olam

Time to welcome Pat Condell again for slapping the world's face with the unmitigated truth as eruditely as always.

I am reprinting Caroline Glick's entire article originally published in the Jerusalem Post , here. Read it carefully, very, very carefully. Then do something--call your newspaper, talk to friends, email your contact list--to try to enlighten the world and change the reality of which she speaks, which unfortunately is the utter truth. How can we change this? Three Jewish Children Ruth Fogel was in the bathroom when the Palestinian terrorists pounced on her husband Udi and their three-month-old daughter Hadas, slitting their throats as they lay in bed on Friday night in their home in Itamar. The terrorists stabbed Ruth to death as she came out of the bathroom. With both parents and the newborn dead, they moved on to the other children, going into a bedroom where Ruth and Udi's sons Yoav (11) and Elad (4) were sl...

 (nablopomo day 11) Unlike the world viewing reality with a film over its eyes, the truth about Israel's extreme importance to the United States is spelled out--in bright light--point by point, by Caroline Glick in her article, The Plain Truth About Israel .  Glick correctly assesses these times as those of Israel-hatred, which is really Jew-hatred in a flimsy disguise.  Read the entire article at its source.  Enlighten yourself.  Do not be afraid.  In the end, truth, and right, will prevail. In other times, Hearst Newspapers White House Correspondent Helen Thomas's demand that the Jews "get the hell out of Palestine," and go back to Poland, Germany and America would have been front page news in every newspaper in the US the day after the story broke.  In other times, had the dean of the White House Correspondents Association expressed such hatred for the Jews, the White House would have immediately removed her accreditation rather than wait...

Remember Comedy Central? The ones who censored South Park comic images of Muhammad last April (and in 2001 and 2006 --bet you didn't remember about those ) because they didn't want to offend the Muslims (who have this nasty little habit of going out and murdering people for insulting their religion)? Well, apparently--because of course the Jews won't do anything about it, right?--they think it's okay to put up a strange game on their website, called I.S.R.A.E.L. Attack! (hat tip: Daled Amos , and Honest Reporting ).  At first I was confused about this.  I could not believe that such blatant anti-Semitism could go past everyone and be put online, so I thought it might be something other than it is.  But I was wrong. The game refers to a character (the "Jew producer") who lied and didn't destroy some child-cartoon characters.  It then shows "I.S.R.A.E.L." (which stands for I ntelligent S mart R obot A nimation E raser L ady) coming to rect...

As usual, it is immensely difficult for me to let go of a chag* . Purim ** came like a lion, and also went out like a lion (as opposed to a lamb)! The chag, for me, was filled with meaning and mitzvot, and great portent for the future, in the light of events and developments in Iran, who's evil leader Ahmadinejad has threatened Israel existentially. Although both my husband and daughter--D.H. and Toodles respectively--say that this is pish-tosh : like, Jews have been threatened in every generation and decade so, buddy, what else is new?! I understand where they're coming from, but my opinion differs. I think these times-- partially because of radical Islamists' terrorist attacks globally, the rise of antisemitism's ugly head all over the world, combined with nuclear weapons development and proliferation by rogue nations (read: Pakistan, North Korea, and now Iran)--are much more dangerous and have greater portent than in the past. So Purim, the story of the planned ...

I just finished reading various posts, some discussing Muslim attacks on Jewish students at York University , and politically correct jokes about Israel and the "peace process " (hat tip Rafi ), to comments (on YouTube videos of Israel's excellent rescue efforts) deriding Israel for helping the Haitians with "money from America," and it's occured to me that we seem to be in the very, very early stages of the culture which led to the Shoah. That is the culture where it is universally ok to blame Israel (definition: the Jews) for everything, and to use that blame as an excuse to incite to violence against Jews. One can see this 'acceptance' of such behavior in the Defense Dept. report on the Ft. Hood massacre . If people continue to be afraid to name the enemy, or when they don't protest against violent Islamic culture because of a fear of antagonizing Muslims, our free society's future is doomed. Being sick, I think I wrote a rather disjoin...

It took 73 years, but Margaret Bergmann Lambert's 1936 high-jumping record, disallowed by the Nazis because she was Jewish, has now been finally restored. She had been on the German Olympic Team in name only, as the Nazis never intended for her to play in the Olympic Games of 1936. They were actually putting on a show for the Americans and Europeans who were threatening to boycott the games because of Nazi discrimination against Jews. A little late, wouldn't you say?

I received a comment to my last post which incensed me, and after writing a long rebuttal comment I decided just to run it as a post. Here it is (read that comment first). You say I think that Jews are not capable of 'Run of the mill buffoonery? Lust? Depression? Drug use? A penchant for petty thievery? Adultery?' Unfortunately, Jews are not immune from any of these sins you mentioned in your comment. If what you got out of my post that was that Jews are always innocent of the above, you seriously misread it and missed my point entirely. What I am averse to is not necessarily depicting Jews committing crimes (I say "necessarily" for a reason, which I will address in a moment); rather I am opposed to the Coen brothers pernicious depiction of Jews in the manner of classic Antisemitism and Antisemitic cartoons, as utilized (among others) by the Nazis. In addition, they created an amalgam of nefarious and ridiculous characters which are exaggerated stereotypes, right...

(first, the lateset Haveil Havalim #239 is up at ImaBima's, here .) Okay, better late than never as they say. Have been at the computer daily, but for work, not for blogging; I guess in a very gashmi'ut way that is a good thing; but there is a big void where blogging used to be. . . so I'm making an attempt to return to the blogosphere (when I should be sleeping, of course. When else do I have the time?) The title* of this post I borrowed (ok, I plagiarized. sue me.) from Batya , but only because she tagged me with the Super-Power Meme on September 24th. Good Lord. Where has the time gone? What with working, and the chagim, everything. Just. STOPPED. Because with the world slowly but surely vilifying Israel and condemning her for "atrocities in Gaza,"-- withdrawing from military maneuvers with terrible Israel because her soldiers murdered Palestinian women, children and babies in cold blood -- and this, from a country that had full diplomat relations with ...

I first saw this on Shiloh Musings , republished from Jewish Israel , and was beside myself. What is going on here? Is Heichal Shlomo becoming a venue for missionaries whose agenda, underneath, is converting Jews? Read on: In an unprecedented and radical move, which most Torah observant Jews would categorize as an outright Chilul Hashem, Heichal Shlomo will be hosting a Christian “worship convocation” and banquet sponsored by evangelical missionary Christine Darg of Exploits Ministries . The event is scheduled for October 1, 2009 (a day before Erev Sukkot ), and is being promoted as a prelude to ICEJ’s Feast of Tabernacles. The advertisement for the event calls for an afternoon “Daughter of Jerusalem” Worship Convocation in the 18th Century Renanim Synagogue of the Heichal Shlomo, followed by a banquet at the Heichel Shlomo. Heichal Shlomo is a complex which for years served as the seat of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel, and currently houses the Great Synagogue, the Jewish Herit...

Judging from world opinion vociferously protesting the Israeli so-called "occupation" and 'oppression of Palestinians' and 'apartheid' policy (and 'atrocities in Gaza,' and blah blah blah) one would think that little Israel (wasn't it the French ambassador who once called it " that shitty little country ?") is not worth more than a passing thought, and a negative one at that. However, everyone who really knows the country (and the people and the culture), including countless bloggers (yours truly among them), have often written about the seemingly miraculous birth of Israel and it's developing global greatness. Enter George Gilder with a new future blockbuster book (you heard it here first...er...second: see Israel Matzav ) entitled The Israel Test . In it he shines the light on Israel's emerging greatness as a world class player on the science, technology and economic global stage, (read Mr. Gilder's riveting essay in ...

It's all over the news: Gunman Opens Fire at Holocaust Museum . It is a terrible thing, that this excuse for a human being-a Nazi lover, racist and antisemite- murdered a young married security guard, only 39 years old. President Obama responded with a statement of condolences for the slain guard's family, and he also said this: "This outrageous act reminds us that we must remain vigilant against anti-Semitism and prejudice in all its forms. No American institution is more important to this effort than the Holocaust Museum, and no act of violence will diminish our determination to honor those who were lost by building a more peaceful and tolerant world." This is where democracy works against itself. In order to build "a more peaceful and tolerant world," we have to act to eliminate those who would harm the decent people of the world and who resort to violence. In other words, in order to create a more tolerant world, we have to be, ourselves, in...

Hevel Havalim (there. I spelled it my way: the way it would be spelled in Ivrit, when not a sof pasuk) #220 is up and running at Esser Agarot h (ok, I would also spell that 'esser agorot,' but that's not how Ben-Yehudah spells it, so--deferring to the blog author here. Oy, the curses of being a Hebrew teacher. . . ) My previous post We Were All Duped is linked there; for some reason, he always links me last in my category. Should I get a complex over that, or is it a good thing? Something to ponder. . . I was perusing articles and blogs in researching my previous post, and I found a really good comment by someone about the subject (Obama's speech and apparent attitude). I don't remember the writer's name, and in any event, there was no link I could follow--and to top that off I don't even remember where I read it. But it was so good and to the point, that I am reprinting it here, and if the author comes across it here, please email me (and th...

You don't see this happening on the highway in the States on Memorial Day: And as far as Yom HaShoah goes (which I posted about previously), I believe that this is an appropriate response from the Jewish People to the world at large:

So it turns out that my daughter was chosen to sing, not only the two songs I mentioned in my post of April 18th, Yom haShoah-Never Again (scroll down), but also a third one called in Hebrew Punar . I am ashamed to say that I had never heard of it. So I looked it up. It seems that between July 1941 and August 1944, near the railway station of Paneriai , a suburb of Vilnius, where the Nazis, (yimach shemam*) in their goal of murdering every living Jew in Lithuania, massacred 100,000 people, mostly Jews, along with Poles and Russians. The site--to which tours are brought to learn the history of what ensued there-- is referred to as the site of The Ponary Massacre . And we are oh so grateful that Ahmadinejad might have 'dropped' the Holocaust denial from his speech vilifying Israel. So grateful. . . Punar. *may their name be erased.

The 27th of the month of Nissan is celebrated as Yom Hashoah , or Holocaust Remembrance Day in English, which falls this year on April 21st, 2009. The full name of this day in Hebrew is much more apt: Yom haZikaron la-Shoah ve'la-Gevurah , or The Day of Remembrance of the Holocaust and the Heroism . In Israel it is a National Memorial Day, which is opened by a State ceremony at Yad Vashem , the Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem. At 10:00 in the morning, sirens sound, and everyone stops in their tracks, no matter what they are doing--to remember, and pay their respects to the six million Jews who were systematically murdered in the gas chambers and concentration camps and streets just a little over 60 years ago. At home, you can light a yahrtzeit candle, read passages from books about the Shoah, and remember the innocent victims of what the world does NOT want to admit was an attempt by the Nazis at ethnic cleansing and genocide of the Jewish People. Yes, Jews--and the world--shoul...

For your edification, Haveil Havalim #203 (I still say we're one ahead of ourselves numerically, but...) is UP, at Ima on (and off) the Bima . And here is a continuation of Joan Peters' interview on the writing of her book From Time Immemorial, published in 1984 which is--because of the deteriorating situation with Hamas in Gaza, Muslim riots and violence all over the world, and the increase in world Antisemitism--even more critical and valid today. Realize that the Saudis may not be our friends. . . (!)

I recently began training for a new job, just a few days after my last post—which is why I have not been able to sit down, collect my thoughts, and post anew since the 8 th of the month. The job involves learning an entirely new area for me (a little real estate, business, etc.) — with a little IT work thrown in for good measure, which I already love doing--I guess being married to a geek has rubbed off--all of which is creating interesting new synapses in my brain . By the time I get home, however, I just want to relax, maybe read—not research topics to blog on my s-l-o-w, maxed-out 512 MB of RAM computer (-which sometimes itself decides to relax and freezes , right in the middle of an operation.) In the interim, between my last post and now, I’ve been following the war; last week I downloaded an Israeli toolbar with direct access to all the radio stations, TV, etc. – with even an ‘emergency’ four way split-screen dealie where I can see several TV stations, including Al-...

I saw this on IsraellyCool and fell off my chair. Then I went to the article by Youssef M. Ibrahim * as published in Jewish World Review and saw that it was originally written in June of 2006. My heart sank; it's two and a half years, and they still haven't learned their lesson. What's it gonna take. . . I dread thinking about it. To my Arab brothers: The War with Israel Is Over — and they won. Now let’s finally move forward With Israel entering its fourth week of an incursion into the same Gaza Strip it voluntarily evacuated a few months ago, a sense of reality among Arabs is spreading through commentary by Arab pundits, letters to the editor, and political talk shows on Arabic-language TV networks. The new views are stunning both in their maturity and in their realism. The best way I can think of to convey them is in the form of a letter to the Palestinian Arabs from their Arab friends: Dear Palestinian Arab brethren: The war with Israel is over. You have lost. S...

I'm trying to rationalize this out, and that is the only conclusion I can arrive at. A psychologist would have a field day with this. Why else would the world rail against Israel for fighting back to protect its citizens? Why else would the world accuse Israel of using "disproportionate force?" Why else would the world cry out that Israel is ' indiscriminately killing civilians?' Why else are there 'demonstrations' against Israel's offensive in Gaza? I'll tell you what is disproportionate response . What is disproportionate is the world's reaction to tiny Israel making a belated attempt to defend itself and prevent further murder of its own civilian population. The world's response (with the exception of the United States') is generally negative towards anything Israel does to defend itself. It's outrageous. Where was this world when Hamas was lobbing rockets into Sderot? When Hizbollah was firing Katyushas into northern Israel? ...