Optics and Perception

Not vice presidential
enough

Back in high school, like a gazillion years ago, my friend Billy told me "perception is 9/10 of the law." He was, at the time, consoling me over an election loss (mine) while trying to explain that girls hadn't caught up yet, that it didn't matter that my opponent was an idiot because he was a babe-magnet and I was just everyone's reliable, discreet, best friend. I might be the smarts on the board, but that didn't matter; I didn't look like a vice-president. To his defense, he drilled into me that this really sucked because I was totally qualified for the job. He was right and I knew it....so I did what I already knew how to do: I flew under the radar, instituted a massive change to how our organization prepared programming, and watched some asshole take credit for my work. Billy told me it didn't matter that the asshole took credit because the asshole would eventually fail when trying to make it function the way it should. And that they would call me to fix it. They did. And everyone knew who was behind the project's ultimate success. (50+ years later, it lives on in its own strange, inimitable way. (IYKYK) 

I learned a lot from Billy that year: how to be an existentialist (still am,) how to ignore stupid people (still working on that one,) and, obviously, the power of optics and perception. He had a great, innate understanding of how to manipulate all sorts of stuff. He was great at getting people to do things, he was an expert at shifting time frames to his advantage. But I always thought he was best at making me feel like I could control me. There were days I didn't quite live up to the tasks set before me, but Billy would always push back on my self-doubts to force me to confront the obvious: we are only victims of our failures if we allow ourselves to be victims. And our personal optics were a reflection of the stand that we should take. Our image, at least back in them olden days, should be carefully cultivate and maintained. 

We are what comes out of our mouths.

We live in a much different time now. The 60-second news cycle reduces everything to a sound byte. Between fake news, AI news, and just plain ol' bullshit, it's hard to tell what's real and what isn't. The ability to discern what is real from what isn't is becoming a lost art. My friends can all tell you I play internet police daily and call them out on bull-hockey posts. I provide links, information, and spend way too much time vetting this crap. I hate having to do it. But when I see garbage info on friends' sites, I can't NOT respond. And I constantly say, "DO YOUR OWN DAMN HOMEWORK!" 

So when Zohran Mamdani came on the scene with his non-statements about his earlier statements, I kept waiting for someone to ask the most important question of all. No one did. Instead, they kept hounding him on a statement he made in several places, including on FOX-News NY morning show.

On June 5th, Zohran Mamdani appeared on Fox's Good Day, New York and was asked whether or not he supported Israel's right to exist as Jewish state. He answered:I'm not comfortable supporting any state that has a hierarchy of citizenship on the basis of religion or anything else…. Equality should be enshrined in every country in the world. That's my belief.

If you are so inclined (as I am) to hear it for yourself, here's the link to the YouTube recording of the segment. The fun begins at minute 5:35. 

I thought that was possibly the most interesting statement he could have made regarding Israel. On the surface, it's a really cogent statement crafted to convince people he's for equal rights for all people in every country. He is subtly excoriating Israel for using Torah and Talmud as a basis for the legal system while stating that all citizens in Israel are not equal under the law. One might think that a guy born to Indian expats in Uganda might know a thing or two about religious freedom in both Muslim and non-Muslim countries.

Apparently, Mr. Mamdani is not uncomfortable with the 50 or so Muslim countries in the world that have varying realities regarding non-Muslims. His statement can be absolutely perceived that this is okay and those countries do not not need some kind of adjustment. 

Which makes me think about optics. 

How are people gonna interpret his statement? Will they examine it more closely, or will they draw the most simple of conclusions?  Mr. Mamdani refuses to address the issue of Hamas as a terrorist organization, and in the past, he has founded and supported pro-Palestinian groups that subscribe to the globalization of the intifada, one might easily draw the conclusion that, based on his speeches and recorded rhetoric, he is okay with attacks on college campuses that target Jews. At the same time, he rails against antisemitism and insists there is no place for it in New York City. 

On the other hand, he has been an ardent supporter of the DSA (Democratic Socialists of America) who support BDS (Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions) against the selling of all Israeli products in America. Both movements are not, as they claim to be, simply anti-zionist, they are against Israel's right to exist as Israel

So, which is the real Zohran Mamdani? What do his optics tell you about who he is?

Therein lies the real question no one is asking so far: as mayor of New York, would he tacitly give the shrug and a wink to the encampments and the vitriol? Would he tell them it's okay to take a stand without telling them they cannot exclude Jewish students from any campus? Will the the pro-Palestinian front take this as a license-to-behave-badly victory? 

Or will he actually take a stand against hate crimes directed against Jews? 

 

Do let me know if you know that answer to that.

Meanwhile, back at the capitol.....

As long as we're on the topic of optics, President Felon's response to the assassinations in Minnesota are the great optics of all. They just reinforce what We, the People, already know: he is a classless piece of human excrement. President Biden's presence at the Rotunda was low key, welcome, and appropriate to the moment. His presence at the funeral with Vice-President Harris was lovely.

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week

I'm afraid optics matter in our insta-world 

more than perception.

To Make Or Break A Community?

Photo credit - D. Getsug

Today, our beloved Grand Avenue in Saint Paul was papered over with signs. Not the signs we are used to seeing these days, but pictures of Gaza children with the label MURDERED by Israel. The text on the flyers is very interesting and bears closer scrutiny:

Since its creation in 1948, Israel has committed the most atrocious crimes on the Palestinian population. Murders and brutalities that extend far beyond October 7th. 

As the world silently watches a systematic genocide, we will continue to raise our voices and our stories - of murder,

mutilation, targeted attacks of civilians, and the grim reality of a

ruthless and bloody apartheid 

Spread the truth. Change the narrative. Take a photo.

Palestinians have every right to their land.

Palestinians have every right to resist.

Spread the truth? Change the narrative? 

What narrative would you like? One that buries the history of the region? Instead, how about facing historically verified the truth and confronting your own historically inaccurate narrative?

Israel was created in 1948? They left off the BCE part. 

Apartheid? Genocide? 

How about ethnic cleansing? 

They'll never mention the removal of Jews from Arab lands in 1948. Nope. They conveniently forgot about that housecleaning part. 

Sure, let's forget that since 1948 CE, the Arab countries en masse have been attacking our own indigenous population that is a tiny fraction of the population of the Levant....and can't manage to win.  

A calendar that provides an emerging population with events to be celebrated as a unified community is the first step in creating a unified culture. The Hebrew calendar as set down in the Torah gives us our framework to be unified as a community. From shabbat to the biggies like Rosh HaShannah and the harvest trio, we observe momentous events together. This is true for any unified culture. Christians have Christmas and Easter, and a raft of smaller holy days. Islam has Ramadan, Hindus have a whole raft of holy days, the French have Bastille Day, the Welsh have St. David's Day, and the US has Thanksgiving and July 4th. Every country has a calendar. 

In his novel, The Book of Laughter and Forgetting, Milan Kundera wrote:

The first step in liquidating a people is to erase its memory. Destroy its books, its culture, its history. Then have somebody write new books, manufacture a new culture, invent a new history. Before long that nation will begin to forget what it is and what it was... The struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting.

Isn't that exactly what that poster is doing? The creators deny the history of Israel, refuse to acknowledge that Judaism predates Islam by more than two thousand years, and take no responsibility for their part in keeping a government that uses their own people as human shields, denies humanitarian aid to the population, and openly robs their own population of a working economy that would bring stability...and quite probably statehood...to their own land. 

I would present a very different version of truth: the Eben family of Ba'eri, Israel:

Chen and his wife Rinat and their four children - Alon (16), Idan (14), Tomer (12) and Nir (8) - began to suffocate from the smoke, ran outside and hid in the bushes. They decided to lie in a pile to protect the children. Little Tomer and Nir laying down, with Alon and Ido on top of them and the parents on top of them.

They were found and shot - Chen, Rinat, Ido and Alon were killed on the spot, while Tomer and Nir were saved. They hid quietly under the bodies of their family members, and in a moment of silence they ran to the window of a neighbor’s apartment and knocked on it. The neighbor opened it and pulled them both in, thus saving their lives.

Comparisons, as Miss Pease, our civics teacher, used to say, are odious, and comparing the tragedy of October 7th to the tragedy of Gaza probably is certainly odious. The genesis of one is really not comparable to the genesis of the other. People asleep in their beds and dancing at a music festival were hunted down, shot, tortured, raped, murdered. 

The war came to Gaza with the hostages. Return the hostages, the war stops.

Still, one cannot dismiss the ponderous sadness and disconsolation of both. The children and civilians of Gaza did not ask to be human shields. They were unwitting participants in a battle they may have known little about. I'm certain had they known their leaders were living the high life safely in Qatar and some of the other states while their homes, school, and hospitals sat over miles of weaponized tunnels and armament command centers, they might have been concerned about their own safety. They expected UNRWA and other UN agencies to provide promised humanitarian aid, completely unaware that it was diverted to support Hamas operatives in a grand style. One can hardly blame them for swallowing and digesting all the propaganda fed to them and to their kids in school, blaming Israel and the West for their abhorrent conditions. Never mind that when they went to Israel for medical care, they were cared for just as any Israeli was cared for. But the poison was already in their veins, fed to them by Hamas. All those dead kids and civilians are a tragedy because they didn't have to die. Their leaders chose that fate for them. 

Keep in mind that when Hamas held that fateful election in 2006, they ran on a platform of cleaning up corruption and establishing an economy. The exit poll for that election is a fascinating study of expectation vs reality. No sooner than Hamas had wrested control, they threw out the rest of the existing government to establish an Islamic state.There have been no real elections since; hence, no opportunity for Gaza to replace them. And beginning a new campaign to replace Hamas is the same as volunteering for a death sentence. 

But the reality right now is Hamas controls Gaza and views its only objective to be the dismantling of Israel and the removal of Jews from their own homeland. On the other side of the fence, Israelis are working to get aid into Gaza. They are protesting the actions of their own government on behalf of the people of Gaza. They are NOT celebrating the deaths of Muslims caught in this horrendous war. And therein lies the biggest difference of all.

Only one group wants this war....and it ain't Jews. 

Meanwhile, back in Minnesota, 2 cops and a fireman/EMT were killed by a crazy barricaded in his house very early Sunday morning. The two cops were from the Burnsville Police Department, and the fireman/EMT guy was a member of the SWAT first responder team. The EMT guy was killed while tending to one of the fallen cops. You can read about it in the link above. Try not to vomit. 

The shooter had 7 kids in the house, 5 of them were his. In fact, he had been awarded 2/3 custody because he had a "stable, high paying" job. He had priors, as well as an injunction forbidding him to have guns. Like that mattered. According to his ex, the kids adored their dad yet he "invited" them to go with him when he killed himself. 

Burnsville isn't far from me. I have friends who live there. It's a suburb like any other, full of just regular people going about their business....while having unfettered access to guns. How is that even possible? I just don't know. This town is shattered. But like everywhere else, nothing will come if it. 

Yeah, we don't have a gun problem in this country. People kill people.

But here's the thing, We, the People are proving ourselves to be completely delusional when it comes to politics and politicians. No one is willing to stand up against the epidemic of people killing people. No one wants to confront a seditious old man who lies non-stop every time he's handed a mike. This is something so disturbing about this and I don't know which disgusts me more: the refusal of We, the People, to admit our lawmakers aren't doing their jobs, or that We, the People, keep re-electing them. 

You tell me.

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week

My Aunty Gladknit turns 95 this week

and to celebrate

she became a first time great-grandmother!

Mazel tov, Aunty G!

The woman is a total rock star!

What They Really, Really Want

I've gotten into the habit of ringing in the New Year on my own. That's not to say I wouldn't accept an invitation to go out, but to date, I've not gotten a better offer than me making something I like to eat, drinking something I like to drink, and reading. I've rarely noticed the ball drop since I left the retail world of china, crystal, and silver when I would watch the Waterford ball drop over Times Square...but that was because I knew the designer of all those crystals triangles and counted Jim O'Leary (z"l) as a good friend. And yes, I do think of him on New Year's Eve as I drink my beverage of choice from a Waterford stem. It's a fine tradition and unless something really enticing comes along, I'm gonna stick with it. 

This year, however, came with a whole lotta thinking about the state of the world, and the State of Israel, and not much celebrating. It's pretty well known that I detest Bibi, that I think he's the harbinger of the destruction of the State of Israel, at least in the court of public opinion....not that it matters much... and he has reduced the moral imperative to a mere shadow of its former self.  I am not so naive as to deny there is a certain mythology within the creation of the State of Israel...from both sides. People will construct their own truth based on what they want that truth to be, whether or not it's fact-based.

As revisionist as Israeli history can be, it doesn't hold a candle to the unmitigated fantasy the Palestinian propaganda machine is pumping out. I'm not going to rehash that here,  but let's succinctly say Palestine was NEVER its own country, Jesus was NOT a Palestinian...he was a Jew from the Kingdom of Judea, and the Temple Mount is called that because that's where the original Temple stood in Jerusalem, the capital city of the Kingdom 600 years BEFORE the creation of Islam. This is not opinion; this is historically accurate. Not that facts ever get in the way of good propaganda. 

So, here's how I ended the year in thought:

All those people shouting From the river to the sea and Free Palestine, may not fully understand that Palestine would be Judenrein...Jew Free. IF it's supposed to be Jew Free, what happens to the Israelis that already live there? Do they 

1. move to Brooklyn? 
2. Move to the middle of Australia? 
3. Move to Africa?
4. Or, as Hamas and the other radical jihadists propose, driven into the sea to die?

If option 4 is on the table, isn't that the same kind of genocide all those protesters are railing about? Or is it GOIIAJ.....genocide's okay if it's a Jew?

I've also been listening carefully to the pro-Palestinian pundits on the talk shows. I read what they say in the media. I hear their podcasts....but I never hear an endgame for what happens to the Israeli population....Jews, Arabs, Christians, Druze, Bedouins, or Bahá’ís...after Palestine is free from the river to the sea. 

Approximately 9 million people live in Israel. Where do they go?

And what's worse, NO ONE seems to be asking that question on the chat shows or even in the press. I do think that they are:

1. Scared of the question
2. Scared of the answer
3. Scared to ask the question
4. Scared to admit their interviewee really is advocating genocide

I don't think:

1. Hamas, nor Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, or Iran have a viable endgame in place
2. no part of their endgame includes Jews remaining alive
3. Hamas wants this war to end at all lest they no longer be thought of as victims. 
4. this war is going to end any time soon, so long as Bibi is in power.

As long as the war does go on, it's increasingly difficult to fire Bibi as PM. But that also plays into the Gazans-as-victims playbook, relieving them of any and all responsibility for the massive death toll. The blame falls squarely on Bibi with no other factor in consideration. Never mind that human shields are procured, designated, and deployed rather successfully by Hamas. Instead of bemoaning the result of human shielding, they are called martyrs. Who doesn't want to be a martyr and go straight to heaven?

The next time you watch a chat show or read an "in-depth" article or listen to a podcast, ask yourself, What do they really want? If you're being honest with yourself, the answer can be terrifying. 

Just sayin'.

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the New Year

Confronted by pro-Palestine activists?

Engage in conversation if at all possible.

The question to sneak in is:

If Palestine is free from the river to the sea, 

where do the Israelis go?

Then, either leave a comment here or

 send an email with their response.

Inquiring minds want to know.

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. 

Things That Make Me Crazy

In this week's episode of Things That Make Me Crazy, the list has grown exponentially.

I am obsessed with watching my disaster fund take several huge hits in the space of a single week. This makes me a little squirrely because I am the daughter of a depression-mentality mother. Let's just say the lesson, always have something put aside for a disaster, stuck.

The fridge decided to have a cosmic event last week. It's 16 years old and showing its age. I explained to the fridge guy what was going on, and his response? The thing is 16 years old; this is a harbinger.  Harbinger? The guy said, harbinger???? Yeah...and then he suggested I look into replacing it now instead of when it's a catastrophic event. He also suggested that since the temperature controls were working to not do anything until I decide what I ultimately want to do. You don't wanna know what a new fridge that will fit into the space is gonna cost. It's ugly.

my roof-line

I may live in a townhouse, but we have a condo-type home-owner's-association and not only do they take a hefty monthly fee to keep the pool clean and the roads plowed (not in the same season, thank G-d) but the HOA insures our little house clusters. Or did. Mostly. Even though our shared home-owner's insurance policy has gone up like an express elevator and we don't even know what the final figure for this year is yet, it does not cover the roof. And guess what? We need a new roof because, as we just found out, our insurer is leaving the HOA business and no insurer will insure a roof over 20 years old. It hailed today big time down the road from us....but no hail here...which means we're paying $63K for the whole roof.] Thankfully, I'm only shelling out for the section over my unit. Had the hail hit us.....well, that would be a bucko of a different color. Or not

Let's not even talk about the deductible...or that we have no idea how much HOA insurance is gonna cost this year, even though we've been warned it will be a significant increase.  We'll all figure out how to pay for it; for some it will be easier than others. Somehow, we'll all figure it out. It's just stuff. Still, in the larger scheme of things, it's costly, but we still have a roof over our heads and that's saying something when tomorrow it's gonna be pushing 100°F. 

The next stuff is much bigger. 

Yossele Rosenblatt

Last week, a guy I didn't know died, but he was a high school classmate of several of my cousins, When his high school classmates learned of his death, and that his family could not afford a Jewish funeral... the kind with a plain wood box with no nails, or anything else. This is the great-grandson of the great Cantor Yossele Rosenblatt, a man thought by many to be the GOAT in the world of Hazzanut!  As a kid, I listened to Yossele Rosenblatt on scratchy 78 rpm records because my grandmother adored him. He was her hero. He was the voice of prayer in her head and mine. How could it be that this great-grandson would be unable to have a proper burial?

His classmatestook it upon themselves to use Go Fund Me to raise the money to bury him with dignity. Which also allowed for someone to take on the responsibility for kaddish and El Moleh Rachamim during shloshim...the 30 days following the funeral. The sages tell us caring for the dead is the greatest mitzvah because it can never be repaid. And it's what Jews do for each other. We take care of our own. 

That was the least crazy in my week.

On the other hand, if you've ever heard Jews talking about having a Plan B, know that it's the most serious conversation we Jews can have. The question shrouded in that expression is where will you go when the shit hits the fan? We are not like the Jews of Austria or Germany or even Poland. We're not going to wait for the roundups to begin. Most of my friends are renewing their passports, making sure their kids and grandkids...and great-grandkids have up to date documents. Some are checking on where they can get a sponsor if necessary, or where it's safe to go. Israel, at the moment, may not be that place. This is serious talk. 

And on so many levels it just sounds crazy....but it's not.

We can no longer afford to live in our bubble. While OPPENHEIMER and BARBIE have captured the weekend's box office, another film is out there picking up steam. THE SOUND OF FREEDOM has captured significant box office attention since it opened July 4th weekend, but for an entirely different reason. The film, starring Jim Caviezel is being hailed as great stuff by conspiracy theorists everywhere, including QAnon. The film, actually made before COVID in 2018, is chock full of antisemitic tropes, including blood libel. Shira Li Bartov of The Times of Israel wrote:

Caviezel attended a QAnon-affiliated conference in 2021. During the event, he said that Ballard could not join because he was “saving children as we speak, because they’re pulling kids out of the darkest recesses of hell right now, in dumps and all kinds of places. The adrenochrome-ing of children.” 

The adrenochrome theory has roots in a blood libel canard leveled at Jews since the Middle Ages, said Rothschild. The myth that Jews use the blood of Christian children in rituals was used to justify the torture, imprisonment and murder of Jews for centuries, even taking a role in Nazi propaganda, before it was adopted by QAnon.

So, keeping on with the crazies, today, Elon Musk has renamed Twitter and replaced the bird with an X. To a whole lotta people this was a total dog-whistle. 

[Side Bar so you understand the X part: Do you know where the pejorative term kike originated? I didn't know until today. It probably comes from Ellis Island. In The Encyclopedia of Swearing, Leo Rosten posits:

The word kike was born on Ellis Island when there were Jewish migrants who were also illiterate (or could not use Latin alphabet letters). When asked to sign the entry-forms with the customary "X", the Jewish immigrants would refuse, because they associated an X with the cross of Christianity. Instead, they drew a circle as the signature on the entry-forms. The Yiddish word for "circle" is kikel (pronounced KY - kel), and for "little circle", kikeleh. Before long the immigration inspectors were calling anyone who signed with an 'O' instead of an 'X' a kikel or kikeleh or kikee or, finally and succinctly, kike." ]

In recent months, Twitter has become increasingly open to antisemitic posts and slurs, many of which are barely masked as such. One cross-post, Hannah Pearl Davis posted her Anti Jew Song dedicated to white supremacist leader Nick Fuentes. I won't post the link to the song, but you can read about it in the Jerusalem Post. Hannah Pearl Davis is an "influencer" who is anti-feminist, anti-equality, and supports Fuentes as well as the controversial kick-boxer Andrew Tate. She may sound like a moron, but she has close to 2 million followers on social media. 

Ah, social media....the new world war platform. I'm not telling you anything you didn't know, but if you want to spread malicious misinformation faster than the speed of light? Well, you know how to post, don't you? Just put your fingertips on the keyboard....and lie.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, I'm still researching left/right violence,  but I'm also debating whether or not to see OPPENHEIMER. My dad once told me Oppenheimer was a disgrace to Jews everywhere."Because of the bomb?" I asked. "No," he answered, "because he turned his back on being a Jew."

It wasn't about being Jew-ish. It was about being counted as a Jew. 

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week

I have an up-to-date passport and now I have

a Known Traveler Number.

I am all set to go.

What about you?