I Am A Jew. I Do Not Hate. I Do Not Fear.

I supposed I could write about Iraq and Iran, but the truth of the matter is that no matter what I write, the various truths of the last few days won't matter. In short order, here they are:

1. Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani was a rotten egg and getting rid of him probably wasn't a bad idea.
2. Getting rid of Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani via assassination while bypassing the normal checks and balances before launching such an attack is problematic. Actions that can start wars are supposed to go with oversight processes to lay out possible scenarios. Indications are that process was skipped.
3. The relationship between the US and the few allies we have left has been further damaged by this unilateral action. 
4. Responding to threats with tweets declaring he's gonna blow up cultural sites is moronic, not to mention a war crime. It's not how the US wages war. Ever. The tweets do not produce a show of strength and fortitude, they are the ravings of a playground bully only this one doesn't have a red rubber dodge ball in his hands, he has a red button. 
5. Can you say "wag the dog," boys and girls? He tried accusing President Obama of that very action against Iran, but like everything else, it was hot air then and it's hot air now. 
6. When he reads a speech, he sounds like an early version of Disney's Lincoln automaton. He can barely read multi-syllabic words and he stumbles over simple ideas. For a guy who used to be dynamic on this TV show, he is a pancake now. And that's a professional professional opinion. 
7. If your neighbor was behaving like this, you would wonder if the guy was doing drugs to produce such erratic (no, not erotic) behavior. It's gotta be a whole lotta drugs or the guy is moving along the yellow brick road to the Dementia City at a pretty good clip. He can't stand up for long periods of time. You would be thinking, "Social Services." Yeah. You would. 

But I'm not going to write about Iraq or Iran because those wheels are already turning and no one will be able to stop them. We will reach the brink of war...and the only thing that will stop that will be an act of Congress. But when your bread is buttered by Putin, and every action is rubber stamped by a Senate that is interested only in its pocketbook and  power, not We, the People, you can expect nothing less that abject failure to do one's duty to the nation. 

Once upon a long time ago, I said, "Follow The Money." Actually, I've said that a lot in this blog, so use your imagination....and a world map. You'll figure it out.

Meanwhile, there are more immediate needs...ones we can do something about. Together.

Truth be told, I am not a great fan of Bari Weiss; I often disagree with what she writes, but respect her ability to voice her opinion to the august audience of the Grey Lady. However, this past Sunday, January 5th, 2020, thousands of people around the world gathered together for the SOLIDARITY MARCH: NO HATE NO FEAR and about 25,000 of them were in New York, where that same New York Times columnist addressed the crowd. At this moment, I am Bari Weiss's greatest fan, and since the text of her speech has been reprinted all over the net, I decided once more, with feeling, wouldn't hurt. 

My name is Bari Weiss.

I am a proud American. I am a proud New Yorker. And I am a proud Jew. 

I am not a Jew because people hate my religion, my people, and my civilization. 

Not for a single moment does Jew-hatred, like the kind we are seeing in this city, make me a Jew. 

I am a Jew because of the audacity and the iconoclasm of Abraham, the first Jew of all. The whole world was awash in idols and he stood alone to proclaim the truth: There is one God. 

I am a Jew because my ancestors were slaves. And I am a Jew because the story of their Exodus from Egypt, their liberation from slavery, is a story that changed human consciousness forever. 

I am a Jew because our God commands us to never oppress the stranger. 

I am a Jew because Ruth, the first convert to Judaism, told her mother-in-law Naomi, “your people will be my people and your god will be my god,” reminding us of the centrality of the Jewish people to Judaism. 

I am a Jew because of Queen Esther, who understood that she had attained her royal position in order to save her people from destruction. 

I am a Jew because the Maccabees were the original resistance. Because they modeled for us — and for all peoples — how to resist the temptation of self-erasure. 

I am a Jew because when Rabbi Akiva was being tortured to death by the Romans he laughed. He laughed and he told his students that he could finally fulfill the commandment to love God with all of his being. 

I am a Jew because even after the heart of Judaism and Jewish sovereignty were destroyed my people refused to accept the logic of history and disappear. And I am a Jew because some of our greatest renewals took place in exile. 

I am a Jew because my people has been targeted and despised and murdered by the Nazis and Soviets. 

I am a Jew because evil hates my people. 

I am a Jew because my people managed to turn destruction into redemption by returning to their land after 2,000 years. 

I am a Jew because our Founders saw themselves as new Israelites. 

I am a Jew because the biblical words on the liberty bell — proclaim liberty throughout the land! — rang out from the righteous mouths of this country’s abolitionists as they fought for universal freedom in this New Jerusalem. 

I am a Jew because it was Emma Lazarus who etched the biblical injunction to welcome the stranger onto the consciousness of America when she wrote the words: “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” 

I am a Jew because of the martyred of Tree of Life and Chabad of Poway and Jersey City. And I am a Jew because of the courage of those who fought back in Monsey and who then, immediately after the attack, gathered together to sing. And I am Jew because of my brothers and sisters in Crown Heights and Boro Park and Williamsburg who refuse to hide their Judaism.

I am a Jew because of students across this country who refuse to be smeared and denigrated because of who they are, who are standing up against humiliation, pressure and abuse to affirm the justness of Zionism. 

I am a Jew because my brothers and sisters in England and France are battling the anti-Semitism of populist thugs and the anti-Semitism of politicians in parliament. 

I am a Jew because I refuse to stay silent in the face of injustice. I am a Jew because I have no patience for leaders who speak boldly while failing to take the actions necessary to protect our community. Or for partisan hacks that claim anti-Semitism is the exclusive domain of their political opponents. Or for leaders who believe they can fight Jew-hatred while making political alliances with anti-Semites. 

I am a Jew because I refuse to lie. 

I am a Jew because Jews are of every color and class and politics and language. And I am a Jew because hatred of us has no color or class or politics or language. 

I am a Jew because Jews do not cause Jew hatred. Ever.

Today, as in so many times in history, there are many forces in the world insisting that Jews must disappear or die. Some say it bluntly. Some cloak it in the language of progress. 

But I am a Jew because I know that there is a force far greater than that. And that is the force of who we are and the force of our world-changing ideas. 

The Jewish people were not put on Earth to be anti-anti-Semites. We were put on Earth to be Jews. 

We are the people whose God never slumbers or sleeps, and so neither can we. 

We are the lamp-lighters. 

We are the ever-dying people that refuses to die. 

The people of Israel lives now and forever. 

Am Yisrael Chai.

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Day 

from Elie Wiesel's Nobel acceptance speech

December, 10th, 1986:

“We must always take sides. 

Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. 

Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented."