Believe It Or Not...There's Stuff I Don't Know

Sunday was just what the doctor ordered to cap the very busy last few weeks...what with Senior Son in residence, followed by the family reunion in Connecticut, followed by houseguests from Israel who were with me over the 4th. After more than a month of total excitement, this  weekend was the perfect cap.

Sunday morning, my friend Elaine and I took a shpatzir  down to Stockholm, Wisconsin  to pick up fresh, whole, kosher chickens from Avodah Farm. Getting a decent-sized whole chicken is hard when you don't have a real kosher butcher in Minnesota, so Martha became a certified shochet and now provides us with wonderful chickens. The farm is in Stockholm which is a beautiful day-trip kinda drive. 

We started with vegetarian lunch at Harbor View Cafe in Pepin, then wandered around Stockholm's little shops, and finished with a visit to Stockholm Pie where all pies are made with Crisco, no lard anywhere to be found... and the owner, Steve, when I told him the pie I ordered was destined for my machetunim, demanded to know why I didn't bring buns! Long time friends with my machetunim, Steve was well acquainted with the excellent buns produced in their kitchen. Next time, I promised...and my machutin agreed. Next time I will definitely bring buns.

And today, Monday, back to reality. I had a TSA Pre-✓ appointment this afternoon. I figured I'm flying enough these days to just do it. No global entry yet....we'll start small. It took all of 5 minutes, no waiting. Why didn't I do this sooner?

Meanwhile, back at the ranch.....

Two conversations of note with two different people took place over the weekend. The first was why I haven't been writing more about what's going on in Israel and the second was about left-wing extremism in these here United States. Both are obviously hot-button issues and, truth be told, I only get to have a public opinion on one of them. 

Let's start with Israel. 

I am a Zionist. A proud, unapologetic Zionist.

I believe We, the Jewish People, have a right to live in the land from whence we came. Since most of the world agrees the first Temple stood in Jerusalem at least until Nebuchadnezzar destroyed it in the 6th century BCE, it's pretty safe to say Jews were the ruling party there at that time. The second Temple was built sometime around 516 BCE, and destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE. Documentation on this period is pretty good. So again, we can all agree Jews were the ruling party in Jerusalem until the Roman conquest. Documentation also indicates that conquest was the end of that area's independent state status until the modern State of Israel's declaration of Independence on May 14, 1948. Between 70 CE and 1948 CE, Israel was a territory, protectorate, or vassal of another country/Empire. This part is kinda not debatable because contemporary historical accounts line up pretty much. 

Do I support a two-state solution to the modern dilemma? Possibly. The caveat there is that the other state has to accept the existence of the State of Israel. To have peace, you have to have a good faith partner. That isn't always the case...on either side.

Do I have problems with the actions of the current Israeli government? You betcha. I don't like Netanyahu, and I don't like the haredi coalition, aka the rabbanut, controlling all religious aspects of Israel. Their actions impact the diaspora, often relegating non-orthodox Jews to second class status. That puts my children and grandchildren in participatory limbo because one of their parents is a Jew-by-choice. The refusal of the rabbanut to accept other streams of Judaism as authentic and valid is discriminatory and damaging to the heart of Klal Yisrael... the Jewish community as a whole....not a collection of splintered parts. 

But something strange happened this weekend. 

Most people don't know that Israel never ratified their constitution. It was a hastily built convenience to satisfy the UN, but it was never ratified. This needs to be corrected and corrected in a way that counts all Jews.....haredi, orthodox, conservative, reform, reconstructionist, or whatever, as Jews. Much of the current civil unrest circles back to the issue of a lack of a constitution. 

In his own blog, Inside Israel, Daniel Gordis navigated some of what is happening in Israel at the moment. His analysis is worth reading.  He extensively reports on a group of seven Israelis who are coming forward to propose a new Constituent Assembly. This is an important opening from a mixed group. He reports that Nadav Eyal, a major journalist in Israel, had a conversation with Rabbi Yosef Kaminer, a haredi member of a group. Rabbi Kaminer told Eyal.

As Haredi Jews, we have a long historical memory. If we do not act to lower the flames and to come to some basic agreements, there will be no state to fight over. We Haredim understand that having a state is nothing to take for granted; every day, it is a miracle all over again. In order that the state survive, we prefer to reach compromise with our Tel Aviv brothers and to live in this Holy Land under Israeli rule in a thriving country and economy, rather than being “right” and being the lone heirs to this land, by causing the country to collapse and to live under the rule of Hamas [or] in a country that is dictatorial and weakened.

We are pragmatists: we know that if they do not have Tel Aviv and their liberalism, we will not have Yavne and its sages.

I have no idea if this will go anywhere or bear even the smallest, tiniest bit of fruit. That it even happened makes me slide at least one eyebrow partially up. After all, that national anthem is HaTikvah...The Hope

As long as in the heart, within,

The soul of a Jew still yearns,

And onward, towards the ends of the east,

an eye still gazes toward Zion;

 

Our hope is not yet lost,

The hope of two thousand years,

To be a free nation in our land,

The land of Zion and Jerusalem. 

Look, I get that for a lot of my readers, this is unimportant minutia, but for a lot of us, it is not. Even if one does not plan on making aliyah...relocating to Israel...what happens there matters to us. And while I understand I do not get an official opinion on their politics, I cannot help but feel the impact of that state's actions. 

Now, on to the other item on my agenda. 

In a conversation, a person whose opinion I greatly value and respect, said that in any conversation about the state of US politics, one had to recognize that far-left extremist were also responsible for verbal threats, anti-right violence, and implied domestic terrorism. I was taken aback by the statement, and asked for some examples I could research. This is the kind of thing I want to know about...I want my readers to know about. Almost everything I've read about violence and attacks comes from the right; it's rare to see leftist violence or terrorism in America. Which made me wonder about bias in reporting, and whether or not I'm missing something so blatant. 

Yes, I know about confrontations and counter-demonstrations, insult hurling, name calling, and stuff like that. Sticks-and-stones kinda schoolyard bully behavior. But are leftists infiltrating school board meetings to threaten violence? Death-threats to right wing parents or board members? That's news I've not seen. I promised I was going to research this, even if it meant going outside my usual centrist news sites to look at stuff from Fox, Newsmax, The Washington Examiner, and others. Whatever I find, it's gonna be thoroughly vetted and verified with multiple reports from a variety of sources.

I've spent much of the last 24-hours reading articles from the Brookings Institute, PNAS, and the ADL in hopes there would be something to grab onto here, but alas, there is little violence coming from the left that is reported. The consistent response is that while the left might be vocal in counter-demonstrations, they do not instigate or seem to resort to physical violence. 

Is that behavior under or unreported? I don't know. I need to know.

While Antifa is often cited, I cannot find verifiable references to violence or acts of domestic terrorism originating in the left. This may be because Antifa is a catch phrase and not a real organized group like Proud Boys. I find lots of innuendo, lots of he-said-she-said, and plenty of Marjorie Taylor Green rants, but no substantive documentation detailing actual, verifiable actions.

So here's the thing: I'm not finding clear examples of recent leftist political extremist public action in the US. I need you, my readers on both sides, to contribute any links, examples, rumors, whatever in support of my friend's concerns. I will continue to do my due diligence, but crowd-sourced assistance would be terrific. If attacks, threats, or violence are coming from the left, I want to know. 

Please help me out, folks!  It's easy enough to do; just use the comment space below or email me at thewifelyperson@gmail.com.

Thanks!

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week

Just because you don't know something happened...

it doesn't mean it didn't.

In my world, it means I hafta find out.