Maybe, Maybe Not

I am actually glad my Dad is no longer alive; this America would break his heart. Dad used to say he fought in Germany so we would never have to worry about being Jews again. The events of the last couple of weeks would've decimated him. FIL, too...and he wasn't even Jewish.

I'm not just talking about the slaughter at the Supernova music festival, the kibbutzim, and the Israeli towns near Gaza. I'm not just talking about a raging mob in the Republic of Dagestan hunting for Jews at the airport. I'm not just talking about the crowd at the Sydney Opera House shouting Gas the Jews. I'm not even talking about Berlin where Jews are becoming afraid to go to the greengrocer because it's an Arab-owned store. 

No, I'm talking about America. 

I'm talking about Jewish kids being barricaded in the Cooper Union Library because a "pro-Palestinian" mob was trying to break in. 

I'm talking about Cornell University where the threats against Jewish students were so extreme the kosher dining facility and the whole of the Center for Jewish Living is now under police protection. Look at the screenshot on the right. Those are credible threats made against Jewish students. Not Zionists. Not Israeli. No, these are threats against all Jews on campus.

I'm talking about Jemma Decristo, a professor at US Davis, openly threatening "zionist" journalists...AND their families. In a Sacramento BEE op-ed piece responding to Decristo's post, Reuven Toff, writes:

Jewish college students across the U.S. have been subjected to antisemitism — and the incidents are only increasing. National Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) has been at the forefront of demonstrations on campuses. They often use the chant “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” in their demonstrations, which is a rallying cry used by terrorist groups, including Hamas, the organization responsible for the recent slaughter of more than 1,400 and the wounding of 3,500 men, women and children. 

Hamas’ Charter unapologetically calls for not just the destruction of Israel, but for the annihilation of the Jewish people. SJP, meanwhile, is routinely permitted by college administrators to spew its hatred toward Jews and Israel. Is it any wonder that Jewish students are increasingly feeling attacked?

I'm talking about Stanford, where a professor didn't simply harangue Jewish students, he/she sorted them out of the class and into a corner. According to a report in the British The Jewish Chronicle:

According to details shared by Jewish student leaders at the California university, a popular lecturer called out “individual students in class based on their backgrounds and identities,” asking Jewish and Israeli students to identify themselves during a class entitled “civil, liberal, and global education”. 

Rabbi Dov Greenberg, director of the Chabad Stanford Jewish Center, said he was told by three of the 18 students who were in the room that the lecturer separated them from their belongings and instructed them to stand in a corner. The non-faculty lecturer, whose name has not been publicised while the investigation is ongoing, is then alleged to have said: “This is what Israel does to Palestinians,” according to the student reports relayed to Greenberg. 

The instructor went on to ask how many people died in the Holocaust, to which a student replied “six million.”

The instructor is alleged by students to have replied: “Yes. Only six million,” and: “Colonisers killed more than six million. Israel is a coloniser.”  

This has not been uncommon. What's next? Yellow stars? Hamas would love that. Jews would be so instantly recognizable!

How about Let's all be mad at the Jews because they've managed to survive as a recognizable people? Maybe you should call that people envy.

Israel has been Israel for over 3000 years. When you dig up really old stuff in Israel, it's in Hebrew, the same language then as we speak now. Our language was never a lost language; it was always present in our prayers, our texts, our scrolls. We have the same communal calendar we had then, the same rituals, the same traditions, the same burial practices.

How are we colonizers in our own land?

And these people who shout "From the river to the sea, Palestine shall be free?" Free from what? Homosexuals and homosexualtiy? It's illegal in Gaza. Free from having a functional economy? Free from utilities and potable water?

Or did they really mean Judenrein....Jew Free? I think that's the one they're going for.

If you cannot call Hamas what they are...terrorists...or you find you are making up justifications for their actions, you are a terrorist. Just thought I'd say that out loud. Supporting it, justifying it, rubber stamping it...it makes you one of them. 

Body storage for those
yet to be identified.

Arieh O'Sullivan, a reporter for KAN English news in Israel, (and the son of my dear friend Dina,) sent this to his mother this morning when she expressed concern about what was happening in Gaza:

Here you go mom, bodies of dead Jews, unable to bury yet because the Arabs mutilated the bodies so much they haven't yet been identified. Babies, found burned in ovens, put in alive. Women raped and murdered their faces so cut up they can't be identified. Did u see this on CNN? Don't compare us with the Arabs. All of Gaza is hamas. 

Yet, in spite of that, as Jews, we are told to be concerned about our enemies; even as we celebrate our freedom from bondage, Egyptians died. When we recite the 10 plagues, we remove a drop of wine from our cups for each plague to remember the suffering of those who would have seen us dead. 

Yet, even with the murder and the missiles, there is a prayer we've been reciting at morning minyan that has been adapted from Psalm 91 for the hostages, the IDF and the defenders of Israel. Please note the line I have bolded:

Our God, the One who raised Joseph up from the pit, be "a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble" 

Send complete rescue and full redemption to those held captive by the enemy. 

Strengthen their spirit and bring them our prayers that they be protected from all harm. 

Implant understanding in the heart of the enemy that they may return the captives in wholeness of body and spirit. 

Grant wisdom to the Israel Defense Forces that they may secure freedom for the captives without loss of life. 

Grant strength of spirit and courage of heart to all the sons and daughters of Abraham, Sarah, and Hagar to release bonds of captivity and allow us all to live in freedom. 

"They shall call upon Me, and I will answer them; I will be with them in distress; I will rescue them, and honor them" 

We are not the only ones who live on this planet, we are not interested in world domination or shutting people out. Israel, warts and all, is still a democracy where Arab Israelis serve in government, the IDF, go to school, become doctors, lawyers, supreme court justices, police people, and do everything a Jewish Israeli does. Straight, gay, bi, trans, whatever...you get to live in a society where you can be what you want. Sure, they are crazy haredi that hate everyone who's not like them, but about 78% of Israelis consider themselves non-haredi. In the same breath, we just want to be what we are: Jews living free in the land we've inhabited for 3000 years. 

I'm guess most indigenous peoples feel the same way about their original homelands. Some have even come out to support Israel and the hostages. A group of Maori in Wellington, New Zealand, came together to perform a Haka to send strength and fortitude to IDF and the hostages in Gaza as they demanded their release. Their Haka is a powerful message that we are not alone in our desire to be our own people. 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

Speaking of that desire to be left alone to practice our religion and our culture without fear of proselytization from those who think they have a lock on religion....the US House of Incredible Stupidity elected an openly christofascist, Mike Johnson, R-LA as its new Speaker of the House. From Heather Cox Richardson:

The rejection of democracy in favor of Christian authoritarianism at the highest levels of our government is an astonishing outcome of the attempt to prevent another Great Depression by creating a government that worked for ordinary Americans rather than a few wealthy men.

But here we are.

After Johnson’s election as speaker, extremist Republican Matt Gaetz of Florida spelled out what it meant for the party…and for the country: “MAGA is ascendant,” Gaetz told former Trump advisor Steve Bannon, “and if you don’t think that moving from Kevin McCarthy to MAGA Mike Johnson shows the ascendance of this movement, and where the power of the Republican Party truly lies, then you’re not paying attention.”

This guy believes his religion belongs squarely in the center of governance. In their article detailing the new Speaker's position, The New York Times reported:

Mr. Johnson declined an interview request and did not respond to a request for comment about whether he considers himself a Christian nationalist. But the little-known speaker of the House has made clear that his faith is the most important thing to know about him, and in previous interviews, he has said he believes “the founders wanted to protect the church from an encroaching state, not the other way around.”

Just where does that leave the rest of us? Not so sure it's America if this guy and his cabal have anything to say about it.

Yeah, this stuff keeps me up at night. And I keep thinking about mob rule, and the squeaky wheel, and whether or not America is at the end of our noble experiment in democracy. Or maybe this is the end result of democracy? The majority does rule and if that majority thinks Feckless Loser should be the winner. If enough congressclowns are voting a christofascist in as Speaker of the House, and enough people are questioning the veracity of our electoral process, and if enough people are running for office as right-wing local school board and city council members, and enough of those candidates are winning.....that's democracy. 

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week

Maybe we who feel differently no longer have a place in these here United States. 

Ever think of that?

JEWISH LIVES DON'T MATTER? Yeah, actually Jewish lives DO matter

Someone close in my inner circle of lunatics announced they were withdrawing from Facebook communication for a while due to the incredible upsurge of Jew-hate on the board. Frankly, I don't blame them in the least. Ergo, I am dedicating this week's episode to the painful reality of being a Jew these days. Not everyone will agree with or support some of what you'll read below, but I can guaran-damn-tee you every Jew who reads this will pause to consider whether or not I'm being too harsh/realistic/paranoid in my rant. Not that I care at the moment. I'm facing a whole new world and it is closing in around We, The Jewish People. 

Let's set the stage:

Hamas bodycam footage

On October 7th, terrorists crossed the Gaza border intent on murdering Israeli civilians in their homes. In a well planned raid, they entered towns and kibbutzim where they hunted down residents, broke into homes, to slaughter men, women, children, babies, and the elderly. No one was safe. Not even in the safe rooms. 

This is a child's bedroom. And yes, that's blood. There are also pictures of nurseries where children gathered to play now riddled with bullet holes. These are not a combatant hiding place; they are supposed to be safe places where children can play. Then again, after Sandy Hook, Parkland, and all the other school shootings, we still don't have sane gun laws in the US, so I guess this is okay, too. 

Terrorists went to a music festival where young people had gathered in the desert and slaughtered them like so many fish in a barrel, shooting many as they ran, shooting them sitting in their cars, hunting them like animals. This is a tent full of body bags. 260 kids were murdered at a rock festival. Well, I guess it's okay because it wasn't Woodstock or Coachella even if there were Americans and other foreigners there. I guess no one would've minded much if 260 kids were gunned down over at Max Yasgur's place because he was Jewish, too

Over 200 men, women, children, and elderly have been taken hostage to serve as human shields along with every other civilian in Gaza. That's what they do; Hamas has been using human shields since 2005 when Israel left. They use the population as human shields by setting their launchers in the middle of dense populated neighborhoods, near hospitals, mosques, and schools; a great way to boost casualty numbers. Playing the victim card is a mainstay of this production. Now they have Israeli shields, too.

Let me repeat that in case you missed it: Israel left Gaza in 2005. The only ones holding Palestinians hostage is Hamas. Yup, they're the ones standing between Palestinians and modern utilities. Not Israel. Not the US. Not even Egypt. Hamas is decimating its own population.

Israel does not want this war. They will be castigated for any response to the attacks, but that is to be expected. What Israel wants, what Israel has tried for decades to do, is to create a second partner state that would provide all Palestinians with economic stability, education, heath and utility infrastructure, and a partnership for peace, cooperation and growth. It's really hard to do that when your cities are under constant shelling. Face it, Israel doesn't need Gaza or the West Bank economically or for land; a modern, thriving economy exists in Israel. Two states, side by side, supporting each other for growth? That's the ideal. 

However...

Hamas has rejected every attempt to create an independent state of Palestine. The Hamas Charter, however, does not call for a two state solution, it calls for the absolute destruction of Israel and death to all Jews. Not exactly a partner, is it?

IF YOU STAND WITH HAMAS, understand you are supporting terrorism, the murder of civilians, and constant bombing of towns, villages, and farms. What you are NOT supporting are the people of Palestine who long for economic freedom, education for their kids, and a peaceful place for families to live and prosper. 

Hamas has never hidden its intent of genocide for the Jews, even when it exchanged the word Jew for Zionist in the 2017 revision of its charter. Regardless, Hamas wants a Palestine from "the river to the sea" that is Jew free, and getting it to be Jew free requires the "removal" of the Jewish population. While Hamas claims all religions can be practiced in their new state, don't believe them. From this month's ATLANTIC:

Tucked into Article 31, toward the end of the delineation of its three dozen guiding principles, Hamas claims that all faiths can “coexist in peace and quiet with each other” under its unique “wing of Islam.” But lest anyone be lulled into believing the promise of this paradise on Earth, Hamas demands as the price of entry full allegiance and unquestioning compliance with its rule: “It is the duty of the followers of other religions to stop disputing the sovereignty of Islam in this region, because the day these followers should take over there will be nothing but carnage, displacement and terror.”

Meanwhile, back at the ranch....

The only country on the globe that is not permitted to defend itself is Israel. Actions against Israeli civilians are never supposed to be acted upon. Suicide bomber? No problem; just watch out for people in winter coats in July. Endless barrage of rockets fired into towns like Sderot and directed at the school yards or bus depot? That's okay, you Iron Dome, so there's not a real threat there. Missiles fired into the north toward Haifa and Tel Aviv from Hezbollah OCCUPIED Lebanon? Oh, not to worry, they can't reach the population centers. 

Israel is resoundingly condemned at each event perpetrated against the civilian population. Sure, there's a moment of Oh, how awful almost immediately followed by cries of occupiers, colonialists, whatever. If Israel responds to an attack, they are attacked for defending their civilian population because, after all, they're occupiers and colonialists.  Forget the facts. Forget they left Gaza and the population elected Hamas in 2006. Never mind there hasn't been an election since 2007.

And how poor Gaza suffers at Israeli hands! Shhhh...don't mention the pipes ripped outta the ground to make rocket launchers instead of a clear water supply. If you don't tell anyone about the number of missiles fired by Hamas that didn't quite make it into Israel but fell in Gaza City itself. You can blame Israel for leveling all the buildings, even when they didn't do it...like that hospital last week. Israel didn't bomb that hospital, an Islamic Jihad rocket missed, fell, and blew up a bunch of cars that did the ultimate damage. But it's okay; mainstream media blamed Israel and now everyone believes it rather than all evidence to the contrary. Cries of "gas the Jews, "kill the Jews," and "Jews are baby killers" work well to supply all the kindling you need to light a fire under the Jewish Lives Don't Matter Handbook and Platform. Mass hysteria will take care of the rest.

IF YOU STAND WITH HAMAS, your Jewish friends do not have a friend in you. They are probably nervous about what's happening around them. Wanna guess why?  Can you say Germany in 1938? 

IF YOU STAND WITH HAMAS, try to be honest here...you're gonna be the first ones to close the drapes and ignore what's happening outside your living room window.

If you have a joke tombstone display for Halloween on your lawn, and one of those tombstones says, "ANNE FRANK," guess what? YOU ALREADY STAND WITH HAMAS and will be one of the drape pullers.

IF YOU STAND WITH HAMAS, you are standing for laws requiring homosexuals to be jailed. Bet you forgot about that one. However, in 2016 Hamas executed on of their own leaders, Mahmoud Ishtiwi, under allegations of gay sex and theft. I bet their Gay Pride parade more closely resembles lemmings and a cliff rather than a happy event for all LGBTQ folks. Come to think of it, I don't think they have a Pride Parade in Gaza City. 

IF YOU STAND WITH HAMAS, I'm guessing you never heard about Black September. That was when the PLO, the forerunner of Hamas, tried to overthrow the Kingdom of Jordan and started a civil war.Y'know, you really have to be otherworldly if you think this is about a land grab in the Middle East, or prevention of statehood for Gaza and/or the West Bank. There is no colonization or occupation by Israel. They don't want Gaza. Nor does anyone else as long as terrorism is their stock in trade. Egypt already worries about what happens if you let large numbers of known terrorists come into your country. And let's not forget Hezbollah in Lebanon. Now that's an occupation!

It's not about Israel occupying Gaza. It's about baseline Jew hatred, and in your heart of hearts, thinking the Germans could've done better. It's okay; you don't have to keep it a secret any more. We already know, and frankly it's okay to be honest about it. We, the Jewish People, prefer that to blowing smoke up our collective ass. 

That way, we know right out front who wishes us dead. 

IF YOU STAND WITH HAMAS, you really are the enemy of the people of Gaza. Their choices have been stolen by the people elected to bring them statehood. Instead, those elected have prevented humanitarian aid from reaching those who need it because it was used to dig tunnels under the border to kibbutzim in order to kill civilians. Hamas has used the funds for utility maintenance to line their own pockets as they build bombs and rockets. The last free election in Gaza was in 2005. According to Freedom House:

The PA has not held a presidential election since 2005, when Fatah faction's Mahmoud Abbas won with 62 percent of the vote. Following its win in 2006 legislative elections and a violent rift with Fatah and the West Bank-based PA in 2007, Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip. Abbas's four year electoral mandate expired in 2009 though he has continued to govern in the West Bank. 

IF YOU STAND WITH HAMAS, you are sentencing the civilians of Gaza to economic and political death while you support genocide for Jews all over the world. 

Or maybe that's what you're really hoping for. Is that some kind of apocalyptic thing?

I STAND WITH ISRAEL even though I'm not overly happy with the government, especially the Prime Minister, and I worry about the toll the response to the invasion will take on the population in Israel, the Diaspora, and yes, even in Gaza. Are all Israel's responses perfect? No; far from it. But do I support the right of We, the Indigenous People of the tiny Mediterranean strip of land to live there in peace? Absolutely. All of us. Just like they do in Israel. Jew, Muslim, Arab, Mizrahi, European, African, Asian, American. All of us. And if you wanna know the absolute truth? I want Gaza to succeed as a state. I want the Palestinians to have a country they can thrive in, be proud of, and open itself to the world. No one wants them behind barbed wire, but they have to stop sending rockets into schoolyards. 

Do We, the Jewish People, have the right to defend ourselves? You bet your sweet ass we do. As Charles Krauthammer said,

Israel is the very embodiment of Jewish continuity: It is the only nation on earth that inhabits the same land, bears the same name, speaks the same language, and worships the same God that it did 3,000 years ago. 

Look, we get it. If you're Christian, think about this: I bet Jesus would get it, too, since he's one of us. Hamas would have no compunction about killing him, too. Just thought I should remind you about that. In case it makes a difference.

And breaking news as of 4:30 CST: two more hostages have been released: Nurit Cooper, 79, and Yocheved Lifshitz, 85 of Kibbutz Nir Oz. Their husbands, however, remain in Gaza. 

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week

Remember this: IF YOU STAND WITH HAMAS, 

you stand for the extermination of Jews everywhere. 

All of us. No exceptions. Just like the Nazis.

Even if you don't consider yourself Jewish anymore. 

You're probably Jewish enough for them. 

New Depths of Disgust ....If you're not worried, you should be.

Over the weekend, an act so heinous it's indescribable, took place in Chicago. A little boy was stabbed 26 times because his family is Palestinian-American. His mother was also stabbed multiple times and is currently hospitalized. The perpetrator was their landlord, a man named Joseph Czuba, who had, in the past, given the child toys and even built him a treehouse. According to the New York Times:

In court documents, prosecutors described the landlord, Joseph M. Czuba, 71, who has been charged with murder and hate crimes, as angry, erratic, paranoid and violent. 

He had been listening to conservative radio coverage of the Middle East war in the days before the attack, the prosecutors said, wanted his Palestinian American tenants to move out of his building and was increasingly concerned that he was in personal danger because of his connection to them.

So he stabbed the kid and his mother. In America. In Chicago. In a place that is supposed to be safe...his home. No child should be sacrificed on the altar of political rhetoric. What happened in Chicago is as heinous as what happened in Israel...and Gaza, too. Innocent people died on both sides. Civilians. Children. Grandparents. Non-combatants all, and all are dead because the politics of hate is practiced world-wide. And it's increasingly practiced in these here United States. 

Last week, the Twin Cities Jewish community came out for an event in support of Israel. When we arrived, the line already snaked around the building. Police and County Sheriffs were positioned around the building, parking lot, and all doors. While they were there because credible threats exist and the intent is to make us all feel safe, I did not feel safe in the slightest. I did not feel safe because I knew Jews and Jewish events in the United States are considered targets. Still, more than 1700 people showed up. 

The venue, one of the local synagogues on the Minneapolis side, was filled to the scuppers. Every available seat, every available standing-room space was takens. Hundreds more could not even get into the building, and listened to the live stream in the parking lot on iPads, tablets, and phones. I saw almost every one of our morning minyan regulars as well as dozens of other St. Paul denizens. We were lucky; we may have been all the way in the back, but we could hear Senator Amy Klobuchar, Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon, and Governor Tim Walz clearly denounce the slaughter in Israel. We listened to speaker after speaker pledge unwavering support for Israel, but we also knew in other places we were being called war criminals and murderers. Oh, you know the drill. 

As Israel is held to some bizarre standard that precludes self-defense, all Jews become targets for hate. In Australia, 1,000 protesters in front of the iconic Sydney Opera House chanted Gas The Jews.  Jewish students on college campuses across the US are threatened by groups that would silence those who support Israel. Harvard, University of Pennsylvania, and Columbia, all Ivy League institutions, have become centers for antisemitic actions toward students by other students under the guise of free speech. For the most part, the administrations have remained woefully silent. Google Jew Hatred on Campus and you can check it out for yourself. Claims that this is about Israel just don't hold up; it's about Jews. 

UPenn President Liz Magill, after being faced with unprecedented backlash to the university's lack of response to concerns voiced by Jewish students, alumni, staff, and board members, sent out a letter basically apologizing. She wrote:

At Penn, we are confronting these events in the wake of recent antisemitic acts on campus and individuals, with a public history of speaking out viciously against the Jewish people, appearing on campus as part of the Palestine Writes Literature Festival.

Many have voiced their anger and frustration about this event. Please know that I hear you. I know how painful the presence of these speakers on Penn’s campus was for the Jewish community, especially during the holiest time of the Jewish year, and at a University deeply proud of its long history of being a welcoming place for Jewish people. The University did not, and emphatically does not, endorse these speakers or their views. While we did communicate, we should have moved faster to share our position strongly and more broadly with the Penn community.

"A welcoming place for Jewish people."  Yup, that's what she said. Maybe it's me, but that one gave me the creeps. Would she have said, "Black people," or "Italian people," or even "Catholic people?" I don't know,  but her tone left me ever so slightly unsettled...and suspicious of her motives. Maybe I'm just too sensitized by the rhetoric around me. 

Getting rid of Jewish people in general is definitely on a whole lotta tables. The new rhetoric is just like the rhetoric of Nazi Germany, of Imperial Russia, or even the Inquisition...just wrapped up in a white flag with a blue star. When so-called intellectuals rave about supporting Palestine's struggle to be "free," they have no clue that Palestine was never a country to begin with. They rant about Gazans not being able to leave...well, maybe they could if Hamas had officials at the border to check passports...which they don't...which is why the border to Egypt is closed. NOT because the Egyptians or the Israelis closed it. Maybe they'd still have a potable aquifer if they hadn't used all the pipes and funding for rocket launchers... but hey! that was not an Israel problem; that was a Hamas problem,  not that anyone would admit to that. As the radical masses carry on about these injustices, they blame Israel, not Hamas for the squalid conditions, in turn, giving the haters open season to hate not Israelis, but all Jews. 

We are not safe from the extreme right, nor are we safe from the extreme left. We are oh-so-conveniently stuck in the middle. 

Tempio Maggiore

Every synagogue I know has security details in place on Shabbat. Outside doors are locked, easy, welcoming access is no longer possible. Several years ago, while in Italy, I was told to register before going to the Tempio Maggiore di Firenze for shabbat. I sent an email, then upon arrival in Florence, I went to make sure I made the list on Friday morning. I was stunned to see the fences and soldiers with automatic weapons patrolling in front and on the grounds of the synagogue. Tonight, while I was in Talmud class, a representative of the safety committee popped in to say we could no longer leave an interior chapel door open for people coming in for minyan. Is this what is coming for us? Apparently, and it scares the hell outta me. 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

Readers have written asking me what they can do to help. Like I have a magic answer for that? Actually I might: send money. Right now, Israel has numerous organizations that are crying out for donations for relief, supplies, body armor, you name it....they need it. Below is a list sent from my friends in Herzliya of established placed to donate with some I've added:

Friends of IDF 

Lone Soldier Center 

Help ZAKA 

United Hatzalah 

Magen David Adom - this link is being matched by Mike Bloomberg:  

Stand With Us where you’ll also find items to share on your social media

Leket Israel our local food rescue and distribution initiative

Shaul Foundation for families in crisis 

St. Paul Federation Israel Emergency Campaign 

Jewish Agency: Victims of Terror fund  

More agencies can be found Here:  TC Jewfolk Resources to Help Israel During Operation Iron Swords. 

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week

The age-old adage,  

put your money where your mouth is,  

applies big time here. 

Please find a fund you like and pitch in. 

There is no "Yeah, but....."

The Kedem family (z"l)
executed in their home on Nir-oz Kibbutz

Tamar Kedem messaged friends in Australia at 2.45pm on Saturday to say they were all inside a bunker inside their home on Kibbutz Nir-oz in southern Israel.  

“Hi guys, we got into the shelter in our house, we’re all doing okay,” the message said. One hour later, Tamar stopped responding to messages. Shortly afterwards, Hamas terrorists entered the shelter and executed them.

from The Jewish Chronicle 

Allow me to make this as simple, clear, and factual as possible.

When terrorists go door-to-door slaughtering civilians, that's not an act of war, that's a pogrom. 

I'm sure you've heard the word bandied about on many occasions, but maybe you don't really know what a pogrom is. According to Merriam Webster, a pogrom is 

an organized massacre of helpless people; specifically, such a massacre of Jews

Britannica provides a broader definition: 

Pogrom, (Russian: “devastation,” or “riot”), a mob attack, either approved or condoned by authorities, against the persons and property of a religious, racial, or national minority. The term is usually applied to attacks on Jews in the Russian Empire in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

In case you're wondering, pogroms did not stop after the early 20th century when Jews fled Russia and the Ukraine. One might (and probably should) call the Holocaust a mega-pogrom, but they did not stop after the Nazis were defeated either. Nope. Pogroms continued in Poland, notably in Krakow and Kielce, Hungary, Slovakia,  and even Great Britain in the 40s. Anti-Jewish riots have never really stopped. Ever. 

This weekend was just another pogrom in a long line of state-sanctioned hatred of Jews. The difference is, we're fighting back once again. 

But why bring up ancient history now? Well, probably because it's not so ancient. Recognizing Hamas for what it is, a state-sponsored terrorist organization, is only the first step in dealing with the disaster that is Gaza. 

The propaganda machine will never admit that there has never been an independent or otherwise Palestinian state on that land. The last independent state was during the Second Temple period, and that kingdom, the one where Herod was king, was absorbed into the Roman Empire as a vassal state, which it remained under various empires like the Ottoman and the British until Israel was declared a sovereign state in 1948. 

Jews, on the other hand, have had viable kingdoms there, built major economies, had currency, government, and state symbols on independent nations on that land. We predate the other Abrahamic siblings; Christianity...remember Jesus was one of us... started in the early years of the Common Era and Islam was founded in 610 C.E., 600 years after Christianity. At no time, not even during the exiles, were all Jews removed from our land. We have been there as an identifiable people since the Iron Age when the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah were established....which is about 1200-1100 B.C.E. That's a pretty substantial history even discounting the Five Books of Moses as a historically accurate source.  In other words, we were there as us long before the other faith groups. We ARE the indigenous people.

Now that we have that out of the way....

Noa Argamani's abduction 
from Supernova.

First: there is no moral equivalency for the actions of Hamas. No one can call terrorists who execute civilians in their homes and at music festivals "freedom fighters" of any kind. They are murderers. Terrorists. Enemies of all humankind. They deserve to be hunted down just like they did to the families of Kibbutz Nir-oz and the kids at the annual Supernova Rave. If you think there is, then you are an antisemite, hate Jews, and believe in genocide. 

Second: Israel withdrew all forces from Gaza in 2005, but retained border control...for obvious reasons. In 2006 Hamas won the parliamentary elections, defeating Al Fatah, but a year later, wrested all control of Gaza, tossing out all opposition from Fatah. While this is a gross simplification, it's important to note that Gaza had its own government for a brief moment. Where is that government now?

Third: Hamas is a state-sponsored terrorist organization holding the people of Gaza hostage. The people of Gaza have been consistently denied their human rights NOT by Israel, but by Hamas who uses any and all money coming into the territory to promote violence instead of building an economy. Hamas systematically prevents them from having a state, NOT Israel. Hamas prevents open elections, Not Israel. Hamas prevents dissenting opinions from being aired, NOT Israel. Hamas rules Gaza with an iron fist around the throats of the populace.

Fourth: Hamas claims Gaza has been under siege for decades. I would posit that is not true.  Israel has been under siege by Gaza  since missiles have been constantly and continually fired at border towns and kibbutzim in southern Israel since 2001. Those missiles are aimed at schools, hospitals, and markets, therefore preventing the people of that region from any semblance of normal life. Children of towns like S'derot do not know life without bomb shelters. 

Israel has a moral imperative to defend her citizens. If bombs are launched at school yards, buses, and civilian spaces, and terrorists infiltrate cities as suicide bombers, Israel had an obligation to find the source and stop it immediately. No other nation has ever been told to stand by for negotiations while the civilian population is under attack. 

NO OTHER NATION. 

Then why is Israel the exception?

Well, you could say because it is prosperous. Or because it has been involved with border issues since the Balfour Declaration. Or maybe it's because it opened its arms to refugees from all over the world.

Or maybe, just maybe it's because there were mostly Jewish refugees.

I'm going with that last one. 

If you don't want Jews in your country, great; that's your loss. But we still get to live peaceably in our homeland. Just like the French. Or the English. Or the Egyptians. Or the Syrians. No one argues with their right to be in France. Or England. Or Egypt. Or even Syria. 

But not Jews. We're told we don't have that right.

Do not attempt to revise history so you can claim you pre-date us and bar us from our own homeland. That's total bull-hockey. You don't pre-date us. We've been around that area along the Mediterranean without exception for about 3000 years, give or take a decade. Sorry folks, but we qualify as indigenous.

And do not think for one Jerusalem nano-second that Israel's current domestic issues will impede our ability to defend our own. You'll find out the hard way that even with all the intelligence failures...and good gravy, there are too many to list...if you think Israel is going to fall, you are wrong. It will not. 

You can call Israel names yet everyone, including Israeli Arabs, gets to live in Israel. And vote. And get health care. And have access to education. Jews, however, cannot reside in most Arab countries. Still. To this day. You can claim Israel doesn't support civil rights, but have a Palestinian Pride Parade in Gaza and see how long it takes for you to be tossed off a roof. You can say whatever you want,  but it does not mean it's true. 

Yet, Israel is singled out again and again for having the temerity to simply exist. 

Now, do you want to talk about all those Hamas Freedom Fighters.....or do you remember this is what Nazis looked like? Jews were routinely rounded up to be shipped off to death camps. If they could get away with it, that's exactly what Hamas would do to us. 

Oh, you don't believe that. Hmmm. The Hamas Charter of 1988 clearly states judenrein, a Jew-free zone, is the intent:

From the Preamble:  

Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it (The Martyr, Imam Hassan al-Banna, of blessed memory).

From Article 7: Moreover, if the links have been distant from each other and if obstacles, placed by those who are the lackeys of Zionism in the way of the fighters obstructed the continuation of the struggle, the Islamic Resistance Movement aspires to the realisation of Allah's promise, no matter how long that should take. The Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him salvation, has said:

"The Day of Judgement will not come about until Moslems fight the Jews (killing the Jews), when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say O Moslems, O Abdulla, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him. Only the Gharkad tree, (evidently a certain kind of tree) would not do that because it is one of the trees of the Jews." (related by al-Bukhari and Moslem).

From Article 13: There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad. Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are all a waste of time and vain endeavors. The Palestinian people know better than to consent to having their future, rights and fate toyed with.

From Article 15: The day that enemies usurp part of Moslem land, Jihad becomes the individual duty of every Moslem. In face of the Jews' usurpation of Palestine, it is compulsory that the banner of Jihad be raised. To do this requires the diffusion of Islamic consciousness among the masses, both on the regional, Arab and Islamic levels. It is necessary to instill the spirit of Jihad in the heart of the nation so that they would confront the enemies and join the ranks of the fighters.

Those are just a few highlights; the red is mine. Read the whole thing if you really want to check out the actual Hamas agenda. I guarantee it's not what you thought it was. Oh, yeah... it doesn't stop at Jews. Just so you know. 

Yaffa Adar

So, what happened last Shabbat? Terrorists obliterated border barriers and crossed into Israel. They also went in by sea and by parasailing. The intent was to murder any and all persons, civilian or military, encountered. They executed civilians at point blank rage in their homes and in shelters. The attacked a music festival taking place nearby. According to eyewitnesses, several women at Supernova were raped before being shot at point blank range. More than 260 bodies have been recovered. Hostages of all ages, from infants to elderly Israelis, including an 85 year old woman, a Holocaust survivor named Yaffa Adar were abducted at gunpoint from towns, the kibbutz, and the festival. 

Oh, and in many cases, the terrorists were narrating the events on camera for the world to see. I'm not going to post them here...just go to YouTube and search Hamas Social Media. You can watch until you vomit.  

Hostages were transported into Gaza; one can only surmise they are being used as human shields, stashed wherever Hamas thinks Israel will bomb because they know Israel will not willingly kill civilians...hostages or otherwise. On PBS Newshour tonight, I heard a Palestinian complaining that this time, Israel did not notify them they were going to bomb his neighborhood so they could get out. What other country notifies targets in advance of airstrikes to get civilians out of the way? (I don't think Russia does that for Ukrainians.) Israel does. The people of Gaza are complaining that Israel did not notify them. Did Hamas notify Kibbutz Nir-oz they were going to execute any Israeli they found? I don't think so. 

I have only one question: where are all those Gazans who say they want a real country, one with an economy, one with food on supermarket shelves, and one with petrol for their gas tanks? If they are out there, they are the ones who should be ridding Gaza of these terrorists, not the IDF. They are the ones who should be fighting the thieves and the murderers in their midst. The people of Gaza must decide exactly what they want. otherwise this is an endless cycle. Until they make a viable decision, they are culpable for the actions of Hamas. They are just as guilty as if they pulled the triggers themselves. Kinda like the Germans who closed their drapes and looked away. If you're looking for an equivalency, you can use that one.

Gaza, your victim card has expired; there are no more pathetic excuses for allowing Hamas to run your country. If you want a country, get yourselves an economy instead of a terrorist regime. There are way more of you than there are of them. All that foreign aid they're using to line their own pockets and build tunnels? That's YOUR money, not theirs. They do not have your good and welfare in their sights. After all, Arafat died with a $12,000,000 personal bank account in Paris. If it was good enough for Arafat.....

Wake up, People of Gaza! Take control of your own future ...if for no other reason than for the sake of your children. When that day comes, you will find you actually have partners for peace and economic stability not just next door, but all over the globe. You'd have to be morons to not take advantage of that.

We, the Jewish People, will welcome that day, but We, the Jewish People, will not stand idly by until it comes. We will protect our country.

We are

עם אחד

One People

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week

Yeah, we just showed on the beach at Akko up after WWII. 

Not.

Oldest known coin marked YEHUD...Judea...in Aramaic.
5th-4th Century BCE.
In other words, we've been there for a long, long time.

Sitting In A Sukkah While Thinking About Stuff.

Rabbi Held

In the past, I've written quite a bit about Sukkot when hanging out in these little huts covered in vegetation materials like corn stalks and branches. This year, it's 90°F. It was so hot yesterday, that they cancelled the Twin Cities Marathon due to excessive heat. Last year, it snowed. Go figure. But whatever the weather, our shul has a long standing tradition of eating breakfast in the sukkah after minyan...Even when it's been snowing. (Thank you Neal and Sandy!)

This year, our new education rabbi's first, Rabbi Held held forth with passage of the Bavli Talmud about Sukkah requirements as taken from arguments about its height in the Talmud. See, Queen Helena of Lod's sukkah was more than 20 cubits high; according to some of the rabbis, this made it "unfit." I won't go into the arguments that went along with that, but Rabbi Held had us all in the palm of his hand. After leading us through the labyrinth of issues with the height and size of her sukkah, he shares the conclusion:

Now that the Tosefta can be explained according to all the statements cited by the amora’im in the name of Rav, no proof can be cited with regard to the essence of the dispute between Rabbi Yehuda and the Rabbis with regard to a small sukka more than twenty cubits high.

Before you go asking that age old question, "What's a cubit?" I'll tell you what it is: it's a unit of measure, an ancient measure of length, approximately equal to the length of a forearm... about 18 inches or 44 cm. I'm guessing that's Noah's forearm they're talking about...but who knows?

But wait! There's more! 

If you want a real experience in Talmudic minutia, read the whole argument about the size of the queen's sukkah (the William Davidson Edition Talmud in English.) It's the most confusing, confounding debate about the size...mostly height of a sukkah. And in the case of Queen Helena, the sages seem to decide not to mention the sukkah may not be exactly to their specification. Is it because she's a queen? Or a woman? Or she needs fresh air? Or had a bunch of sons who may or may not be minors living with mom? Whatever the reason, they left her alone to do her thing with her kids. I kinda liked that ending. 

Maybe I like it because it's in complete contrast to our own government? I kept thinking about the bull-hockey going on with passing a budget to keep the federal government from shutting down. Lost in all the absurd, devious, mean-spirited, destructive behavior from the right wing cabal, The Freedom Caucus, the notion that these jackasses were elected by the people to run the government for the benefit of We, the People is inconceivable. 

Probably because they weren't elected by even a lot of the people. This is problematic. 

General Milley

Outgoing Chairman of the Joints Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, gave an impassioned speech at his farewell ceremony on September 29th. Milley was Chairman of the Joints during the most tumultuous period of our recent history... when feckless loser attempted to overturn the 2020 election. Heather Cox Richardson explained:

Milley had been at Trump’s side at the start of the former president’s march across Lafayette Square on June 1, 2020, to threaten Black Lives Matter protesters, although Milley peeled off when he recognized what was happening and later said he thought they were going to review National Guard troops. Since then, Milley has spoken out against strongman rule and vocally defended the U.S. Constitution. 

The day after the debacle, Milley wrote a message to the joint force reminding every member that they swore an oath to the Constitution. “This document is founded on the essential principle that all men and women are born free and equal, and should be treated with respect and dignity. It also gives Americans the right to freedom of speech and peaceful assembly…. As members of the Joint Force—comprised of all races, colors, and creeds—you embody the ideals of our Constitution,” he wrote. “We all committed our lives to the idea that is America,” he wrote by hand on the memo. “We will stay true to that oath and the American people.”

But Milley's speech this weekend went a step further. He said, 

“You see, we in uniform are unique among the world's armies. We are unique among the world’s militaries. We don’t take an oath to a country. We don’t take an oath to a tribe. We don’t take an oath to a religion. We don’t take an oath to a king or a queen or to a tyrant or a dictator. And we don’t take an oath to a wannabe dictator. We don’t take an oath to an individual.
 
“We take an oath to the Constitution, and we take an oath to the idea that is America, and we’re willing to die to protect it.…
 
“Those who sacrificed themselves on the altar of freedom in the last two and a half centuries of this country must not have done so in vain. The millions wounded in our nation’s wars did not sacrifice their limbs and shed their blood to see this great experiment in democracy perish from this earth. No. We, the United States military, will always be true to those that came before us. We will never, under any circumstances, turn our back on our duty."

What a concept! The duty of any official in the service of the United States government... from a private enlistee to the president...takes an oath of office swearing to protect the Constitution of the United. States:

“I, _________, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.”

And the Constitution has some pretty definitive stuff in it like separation of church and state, equal rights under the law for all citizens, freedom of assembly, speech, and even to bear arms, although what is meant by the Second Amendment is woefully unclear. Congress and We, the People, have ratified amendments to the Constitution, beginning with the Bill of Rights. But once an amendment is passed, repeal is not at the will of a president, congress, or even SCOTUS. From the ACLU:

But the president cannot repeal part of the Constitution by executive order. And Congress cannot repeal it by simply passing a new bill. Amending the Constitution would require a two-thirds vote in both the House and Senate, and also ratification by three-quarters of the states.

Yet, a cabal has arisen in Congress that seeks to undo that which We, the People, have held sacred for over 200 years: democracy. The Freedom Caucus seeks to hogtie the government in such a way that no laws or actions can occur without their express permission. They are not the Republican Party, nor do they represent most Republicans. However....

They have the GOP in such a state of terror that they are afraid of them. Tonight, Matt Gaetz filed a motion to remove the Speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy because McCarthy, who is, quite frankly, no prize, worked across the aisle to get a stop-gap bill passed to keep the government running. Interestingly enough, these clowns wanted to shut down the government, leaving the military, the air controllers, and the TSA working without pay...yet congress would not forego their own paychecks. 

Congressman Jeff Jackson (who I follow devotedly because the guy is a plain speaking human) wrote the following:

The fundamental issue is that we’ve got about 20 members of the majority party - the hardcore members of the right-flank - who want to shut down the government. Pulling a stunt like that comes with a media bonanza, and that’s what they’re after.

That's exactly what they're after. A while ago, Congressman Jackson pointed out those who make the most noise do the least amount of work. Aggrandizement, self or otherwise, is part of the show, the circus, not about governance. So when you listen to the bulloney tossers like Matt Gaetz, Lauren Boebert, know you are listening to an extreme minority with very loud voices. For the record, there are. 45 known members of the Freedom Caucus, but there are 222 Republicans in the House our of 430 Congressional seats. 

45. 

45 Congressclowns hold the entire country hostage. 

45 Congressclowns that supported the overturning of the presidential election. 

45 Congressclowns that pretty much supported the January 6th insurrection. 

45 Congressclowns who swore to uphold the Constitution of the United States...and did not. 

I guess if lining your pockets is your paramount concern, Congress is a good place to do that. These guys are about power and pocketbooks, not about the good and welfare of We, the People....especially if Some of Us People are not white, Christian, misogynistic, haters-of-others.

That's not supposed to be who We, the People are, but I am afraid that is exactly what We, the People, are becoming. Too many Americans are closing their living room curtains to ignore what is happening around us. Good Germans all. 

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week

I am less scared of feckless loser winning the 2024 election

than I am of his getting the GOP nomination and losing.