PORNOGRAPHY: An open letter to the folks in Florida, Texas, and the other reactionary states.

There  used to be a old joke about a guy who was arrested for having pornography, and in his own defense, he protested saying, "I don't even own a pornograph!"

When I was a little kid, I thought that was a really funny joke. I have no idea why I thought it was funny, but I did. I even asked my dad if we had a pornograph since I knew we had a phonograph. Of course, Dad explained there was no such thing as a pornograph and the two weren't interchangeable. 

I do not believe he explained, however, what pornography was. I doubt I would've understood the concept because I really thought it was a new kind of record player. 

So, I'm thinking that maybe you and your governor DeSantis don't actually know what pornography is, because you forced out Hope Carasquilla over showing her students Michelangelo's David. Some overzealous parents said the statue was pornographic. 

So much for literacy, so let's try to fix that without offending your delicate sensibilities.

Pornographic, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, is

printed or visual material containing the explicit description or display of sexual organs or activity, intended to stimulate erotic rather than aesthetic or emotional feelings.

How about a little dictionary diving here?

• Erotic : relating to or tending to arouse sexual desire or excitement.
• Arouse : three definitions offered here. What to choose? What to choose?
• evoke or awaken a feeling 
• excite or provoke (someone) to anger or strong emotions.
• excite (someone) sexually. (Ding! ding! ding! we have a winner!) 
• Aesthetic : concerned with beauty or the appreciation of beauty.
• Emotional : relating to a person's emotions; arousing or characterized by intense feeling.

Hmmmm. I don't know about any of you, but a flaccid penis doesn't do it for me, therefore, having stood up close to this flaccid penis, I can tell you without hesitation that Michelangelo's David is a celebration of the perfection of human form. For all you good Christians, this is exactly what you're fighting for when you all go on about how G-d doesn't make mistakes and everyone is gender-assigned at birth and no one has the right to be anything except what you want them to be.  

David, originally commissioned as one of a series of statues of the prophets to be installed along the roof of Florence Cathedral, was deemed too beautiful to be placed at such a height. Instead, he was set in the Piazza della Signoria, the seat of city government, where he could be seen by all. This was not erotica in any way, shape, or form. This was...and still is...art. Oh, just so you don't think this is modern liberal thinking, the location of the statue was changed and ultimately unveiled on September 8th, 1504....519 years ago. Now, he's the most popular guy in the Galleria dell'Accademia di Firenze.

Pornography is in the eye of the beholder. If you see David as pornographic, you probably should never set foot in the Sistine Chapel, or practically any Catholic church with its iconic depictions of nursing mothers, naked children, and scourged almost-naked saints, not to mention any museum in any city. IF you're the one getting turned on by this stuff, YOU are the one with the problem, not the nuns who gleefully take selfies with David...not because it's the closest they'll ever get to a penis, flaccid or otherwise, but because he's an expression human physical perfection, that thing all those pastoral trophy wives strive for. 

And to be honest, this is really just another expression of book banning. You are attempting to control what others see in a rather hopeless attempt to control the minds of others. You want to drop a glass bubble over your children, forbidding them to learn about other people. Is that such a good thing to do? What happens when they meet someone who is different? Is it hate at first sight? 

There are people who are homosexual in this world. There are people who are of a different mind about religion than yours. Why teach a child to be ashamed of difference? 

And why teach them to be ashamed of their bodies. Kids are gonna touch themselves and each other. And how do you explain "nocturnal emissions?" Are you telling them that natural functions are evil? And wouldn't that be the antithesis of "everything G-d does is perfect?"

As a parent and grandparent, I understand the need to exercise some control over media that comes into your homes. I mean, as loath as I am to admit it, after one episode of REN AND STIMPY I did tell the boys if I ever saw it on the television again I would rip the cable outta the wall. I know I wasn't alone in my distaste for that show, but it wasn't in my job description to ban it for everyone on the planet. That was between Ziggy, me, and the guys. 

Those decisions are left to the parents and guardians within the walls of a home. No one gets to tell my kids what they can or cannot watch or read. I mean, the person who asked that the bible be banned in Utah had a point in demonstrating how ridiculous the law is. By the way, IF I could ban The King James translation of the Jewish part of the bible, I would do it in a heartbeat, but not because it's totally salacious...which it is... but because it's a terrible translation and should just be ditched. Christian scholars think it's a terrible translation. How would you feel if I started a campaign to do just that? Who am I to tell you that you can't read a terrible translation of a book written in Hebrew and still read in Hebrew?

Honestly, it's bad enough you want to control the bodily functions of over half the population while leaving the other, lesser part, to continue to ejaculate into women sans consequence. But I'm not talking about that here. I'm actually defending your kids' right to know about their own bodies, themselves, and the world around them. I want them to learn. I want them to experience being naturally curious about their bodies and themselves. I want them to grow up healthy and well adjusted. 

What I want is unimportant inside your walls. What I don't understand is why you don't want the same thing. 

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week

This is a great butt. 

It's not porn no matter how much you look.

It's just a butt.

The Certainty Trap

1 + 1 = 2

2 x 2 = 4 

100 - 49 = 51

17 is a prime number

WALKED = past tense of WALK 

2 atoms of H + 1 atom of O = H2O (the molecular structure of water)

Are the above posits irrefutable, or part of a certainty trap? 

Can I change the laws of mathematics and science because I personally believe there is a different outcome because I saw something online by someone who saw the same outcomes differently from me? 

I believe, therefore it is?

More and more, the phrase the Certainty Trap is appearing in the op ed columns around is. The phrase attributed to Ilana Redstone, an associate professor of Sociology at the University of Illinois/Urbana-Champaign. Simply explained, the Certainty Trap is the tendency to treat our values, principles or beliefs as inviolable. That if one believes it to be true, it must be true. This is not just found in religious beliefs, but in politics as well, and that's where Tucker Carlson comes in. 

Tucker Carlson has emphatically stated the action on January 6th was a sightseeing adventure gone wrong, even though the live video tells an entirely different story. In my world, anyone with a television or internet access can watch the riot, both inside and outside the Capitol, as it unfolded over and over again. These are facts. There are lots of tapes, recorded phone conversations, not to mention photographs taken by thousands of spectators with smart phones who were sending jubilant updates of the action to friends, family, and Facebook. 

That overwhelming footage was streamed live to a horrified nation cannot be in dispute in the real world. Not so much, however, in Fox World. 

But wait!

Have I just fallen into a certainty trap with that conclusion? Is it possible my so-called facts are actually just as much speculative manipulation as the reporting on FOX? How can I tell whether or not I am ignoring what is real when I believe myself to be processing my version of facts even if I watched it live on television?

Possibly. But not, if you're a bit of a fact-checking pragmatist as I am, not bloody likely.

Certainty does, at some point, become toxic certainty as it's manipulated for public viewing. Last week, Carlson took America through his carefully curated exposé of the sightseeing tour of January 6th, 2021, Tucker Carlson repeatedly harps on the death of Officer Brian Sicknick:

The tape shows very clearly Brian Sicknick walking through the building in apparent health after the media told us for two years that he had been murdered. So, they were wrong about that. Ok. They got caught. Here's the interesting thing. They won't admit it. Liz Cheney's tweet is still on Twitter tonight. "Officer Sicknick was killed defending our Capitol from the violent mob on January 6." No correction. Anderson Cooper of CNN still has not apologized "Officer Brian Sicknick died after being hit [on] the head with a fire extinguisher during the fight," he told us. Those are lies. Why not just admit it and move on? They won't. 

Except they did. On April 19th, 2021, the Washington Post reported on the release of the medical examiner's report that states Officer Sicknick suffered two strokes on January 6th, and the aerosol sprayed on him would not have triggered those strokes. In his report, ME Francisco J. Diaz reported:

Sicknick suffered two strokes at the base of the brain stem caused by a clot in an artery that supplies blood to that area of the body. Diaz said he could not comment on whether Sicknick had a preexisting medical condition, citing privacy laws. 

In the days after the riot, police and a Justice Department official attributed Sicknick’s death to his efforts to contain the riot.  ...

Diaz’s ruling does not mean Sicknick was not assaulted or that the violent events at the Capitol did not contribute to his death. The medical examiner noted Sicknick was among the officers who engaged the mob and said “all that transpired played a role in his condition."

The Capitol Police added that his strokes do not change the fact that he died in defense of the Capitol. 

But Tucker never mentions that the cause of death was corrected and recognized early on as not having been from a blow to the head. Instead, he continues to sell the idea that the Democrats continued to lie about that when they did not. The rest of the footage he shows is so carefully edited and stitched together that he could say whatever he wanted based on video that had been fundamentally altered to show a very different version of the events. He makes the assumption that no one will go back to the original videos as posted that day.

Carlson is kneading the truth, reshaping into something he wants his audience to gasp and grasp while disseminating absolutely untrue information that his audience will spread in a toxic game of telephone. 

It's a game. A dangerous one, but a game all the same. 

Look, I'm not suggesting that Tucker Carlson has a dick to lean on here, but you gotta admit, he's highly skilled and motivated in the art of certainty manipulation. He's mastered this skill. As have lots of his supporters and compatriots. They are unable to refrain from believing anything he puts out there. 

The same principle transfers onto lots of other discussions. Large segments of the evangelical population absolutely believe their particular brand of belief is the ONLY proper way to believe in God. Muslims have similar issues between Sunni and Shiites. Jewish sectarianism tends not to be extreme in the US, but in Israel? Ha! The ultra-religious right have a stranglehold on much of Israel's civil life much to the dismay of most Israelis. Don't believe me? HUGE demonstrations are going on weekly in Israel directed at Netanyahu and his proposed changes to the judicial system. These are just a few examples of certainty traps; that place where only you are right and everyone else is an idiot. 

Tel Aviv ~ Oded Balilty | Credit: AP

Yeah, I'm just as guilty as the next guy when I think about ultra-religious Jews. I cannot normalize them in any way, but I know enough to listen to what they're saying. Understanding their mishugas, their brand of craziness, (IMHO) is the only way I can engage in conversation about it. I cannot combat their propaganda with more slogans; I need to understand what's being said so I can respond to questions I am asked here. They are a part of my world whether I like it or not. And when I am in Israel, they're an even bigger part of the world I would seriously like to drown out. I view them as the ultimate enemy of the STATE of Israel. And yes, I take comfort knowing I'm not alone in that certainty. Secular Israel is out in the streets these days, protesting the direction the government is taking. It's not just kids; young and old alike, including friends my age, are in those crowds. 

When opinions flood mass media without any sort of fact check or verification of validity, the news cycle disseminates the information in a flash, added to that wonderful (snark,snark) habit of people to suck up the news from any particular bubble into their own stream of consciousness bubble so they can vomit it back to their own audience. The certainty trap is enhanced when only information from your bubble spreads to your connected bubbles. That ensures only news and information supporting your beliefs will be valid in your own world. Neither Truth, nor Justice, nor even the American Way have anything whatsoever to do with this formulated reality. 

But here's the kicker...we all fall into the trap one way or another. Keep that in mind the next time you scoff at the perceived enemy. Knowing that you do should help to focus your own reality check now and then. 

Just a thought.

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week

Passover is rapidly approaching.

Time to get the non-perishables,

but the hunt for Temptee has commenced. 

Follies, Foibles, and Family Fun

This past weekend, all 6 of us first cousins on my dad's side were together in probably almost two decades at an event where headstones did not dominate the landscape. No kidding. We've been together for funerals and unveilings, but no happy events. To be fair, this is pretty much my fault because I'm in Minnesota and they're all on the east coast. But this, the first bat mitzvah in the newest generation, was not to be missed. 

We  4

Preparation for the trip was a big deal. Plane ticket, hotel, clothes. East coast events are different from here and I wanted to get it all right. I also noticed that last night (Sunday) happened to be our Grandma Sarah's 44th yahrzeit and we would all be together in shul on Shabbat morning. 

That stopped me in my tracks. RH is Grandma's first great-great grandchild. RH's grandfather, RE, was Grandma's first grandchild. I was at RE's bar mitzvah. It was a huge event in my life. I remember it vividly. There were only 4 first-cousins in those days, and we cannot possibly be that much older than we were then. Or not.  Truth is, we 4 are all over 70. Impossible!

RE's daughter, DK, was the first great-grandchild and she born in just enough time to know her Great Grandma Sarah, even if it was briefly. 

RH's bat mitzvah, the first of her generation, is a huge family milestone. I marvel that we were all together for this. I wish I had a picture, but alas, herding us is like herding cats even though all 6 of us are old-er....and the next generation of second cousins are all adults... who just think we're weird. But that's okay, because we pretty much are. 

Still, as I prepared for the trip east, I thought a lot about us as kids, and the impact Grandma had on all of us. I wanted to give RH something besides a cheque, something that would have significant meaning. Something that would be a physical link to Grandma Sarah. 

Turns out, it wasn't a stretch. 

I happen to have in my possession a whole lotta hankies. See, our very British grandmother was big on things like hankies. She used to buy plain, very fine Irish linen handkerchief squares, then tat or crochet the edges. She spent endless hours teaching me how to do that, as well as embroider. (And yes, I still can do both …especially now that the cataracts are gone.)

 

Most of the hankies in the bag belonged to my mom, her daughter-in-law, and some even had her name, Helen, or her initial H on them. But a dozen hankies were simply edged, most in the variegated cotton string she favoured. Since my own mom was completely inept at that needlework stuff, it was easy to recognize my Grandma's exquisite handiwork. 

Sarah and Moishe Schwaidelson have nine great-grandchildren: six girls and three boys. They now have five great-great-grandchildren: three girls and two boys. Well, this is girls' week. I took 8* handkerchiefs, laundered and starched them just as Grandma Sarah taught me, ironed them to sharpness, and brought them with me to the Bat Mitzvah. They were distributed to the great and great-great granddaughters. There were lots of sighs, ooh, and ahs. Amongst the granddaughters, there was a fair amount of emotion going on. [Note: the 9th handkerchief will go to Little Miss here in Minnesota.] 

See, we are an American family. We don't always agree. We have serious differences amongst us. But in the end, we are a family. Somehow, we manage to come together for the important stuff, to sit together, to be together...even when it's really, really hard. But we do it no matter the faults, the foibles, and the follies. It ain't perfect, but it's just us. Grandma would expect no less. We are a net-work; we catch each other when we fall, then push each other back up. It's interesting to note that RE, the grandfather of the the bat mitzvah girl, and my Big Brother are BFFs and have been for as long as I can remember. (They even have matching Groucho/WC Fields cufflinks.) I love my cousins unconditionally. We share a collective memory no one else has. We are us.

The Saturday night party was a hoot. I even wore high heels and made it through the night. Sitting at a long table, all the cousins and the kids who were able to be there bounced around talking the night away, catching up, exchanging stories, and generally laughing a lot. I was thrilled to finally have a chance to talk to one of the girls who just graduated from med school and has started her residency in OB/GYN. Her sister is in the reality TV end of the industry but we still got to talk shop about the POMEGRANATE since she now has a copy of the pitch-deck. Another great-granddaughter recently graduated and is moving toward a career in conservation and environment. Her sister is the family baker and it's a thrill to listen to her talk about her craft. Very different paths for some rather strong women. None of that surprises me. 

The short one is 
Grandma Sarah

Grandma Sarah and her sister Jane boarded the S.S. St. Paul in Southampton, England on March 28th, 1908, and arrived in the Port of New York on April 6th, 1908, with £10 between them. Grandma was 14 and listed as a pupil, her sister was 11 and listed as a child. They almost got sent back because they didn't have enough money to enter New York.  Aunt Yuddis talked them off the boat. They survived; they thrived. 

And you wonder why her daughters, granddaughters, great-granddaughters, and great-great granddaughters are tough? We come from tought stuff. 

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week

Keep your friends close, your family closer.

Even when you're all mad at each other,

you still share blood, DNA, and upbringing.

Odds are one of us might be your organ donor.

Happy Purim! Eat Hamantaschen!

Queen Esther - illustration by Isabelle Cardinal

Okay, it should come as no surprise that I have a thing for strong Jewish women doing stuff in difficult situations. Read any one of my three novels, and you'll know this is true fact. But here's the thing: this is not, nor are my characters, an aberration. Since Rebecca was reported to have taken the matter of her twin sons, Esau and Jacob, into her own hands, Jewish women have been perennial fixers. Oh, yeah, sure, we overstep and overreact on rare occasions, but you can count on Jewish women to get the job, any job, done. It takes incredible strength of character and an iron will to even run a Jewish household. Which is why we sometimes get a bad rap. But never mind that. 

I did not write The Pomegranate from within a vacuum. Batsheva Hagiz is a natural extension of that line of strong biblical women. In fact, there is a moment in the book where, when she refuses to divulge her name, her captor calls her Vashti, inadvertently naming her for the deposed queen, because it means lovely. And while the name is close to her own (and she self-comments on that,) she is not like Vashti at all. She is like Esther, Vashti's replacement queen. 

I wrote this midrash on Esther a lot of years ago. I was in the middle of early drafts of THE POMEGRANATE, and not even close to being done. It was right around Purim and I was surrounded by the story of two women who faced tremendous odds. I was Team Vashti early on...long before it was popular...and I took a fair amount of flak for that. I staunchly believed she did not go quietly nor with admissions of some kind of guilt. And once I learned that Atossa, daughter of Cyrus the Great and wife of Darius, one of the all-time great queens of Persia, might have actually been the mother of Xerxes, the guy we think was Ahashverush, I was hooked. Hence the midrash.

QUEEN 101 - INTRO TO QUEENSHIP

Hadassah wandered through the rooms of the harem, anointed in myrrh, swathed in robes of the finest eastern silks, and bored out of her mind. The other women, it seemed to her, were happy enough to rifle through casks of baubles and bolts of cloth, chattering on nothing more important than the depth of the shade of silk compared to the color of eyes or hair. To Hadassah, it seemed they had nothing more than fluffy wool between their ears. Surely there was more to life in the palace of the world's greatest king than this.

Hegai was not much help. He tried to find her puzzles and games to keep her amused, but the girl solved them quickly and without effort. Years in the harem business taught him that bored women are dangerous women. Without anything to occupy them, the ladies of the harem invariably turned on each other for sport. But Hegai liked the one they now called Esther; she was observant and cautious. Nothing escaped her notice, and if that were not enough, she asked an endless stream of serious questions. She wanted to know how the king's council was chosen and how it worked. She asked about the methods used to get information out to the corners of the Empire. She never asked about the color of the cosmetics and ointments the servants applied, she only wanted to know where they came from and how they were made. Still, Hegai knew it wasn't enough.

On this day, Hegai led Esther through a plain door on the western side of the harem's pool, away from where most of the other ladies lounged on divans covered with trays of delicacies beside them. The constant chatter faded as Esther passed through the doorway and into another world. Songbirds trilled in the trees, and a pair of peacocks paraded on the grassy bank beside yet another pool, this one fed by a carefully constructed waterfall at the far end. There were several couches, a table with two chairs, and a small gazebo away from everything else. Between the birdsong and the gentle rustle of the waterfall, Esther thought she was miles away from the rest of the harem. "What is this place?" she asked Hegai.

"This is the queens' garden," he replied.

"Where is the queen?"

"There is no queen."

"Oh. Yes. I didn't mean to…."

"I thought you would enjoy this place.  In the gazebo you will find story scrolls, the kind that queens like to have read aloud. I know you read. You can read here undisturbed. No one will know you are reading."

Esther looked up at Hegai. "You are so kind to me. Why?"

He smiled at her, "Because you do not annoy me with empty words and endless requests for honeycomb. I shall come back for you before you are missed."

***********

Sitting in the gazebo, absorbed in tales of genies and maidens, Esther did not hear the soft footfall of other women; not until one coughed that she saw them and jumped up.

Both women were wrapped in exquisite silks, one in black, the other in white. Their hair was completely covered, and their faces only barely visible through the sheer gauze of a veil. "That's a good story," said one softly as she lifted the white veil over her head. She was very beautiful; her skin was the color of the chai, and her eyes were like dark Chinese jade.

The second one lifted her veil as well. She was older, with onyx eyes beneath winged grey brows. "I hope we didn't startle you."

Esther shook her head, but said nothing. She was fairly certain the older woman was the famed beauty Atossa, daughter of Cyrus the Great, this king's mother, and the most powerful woman in Persia. And the eyes of the second....no, it could not be possible. Her own eyes widened.

The green-eyed woman smiled. "Yes, I am Vashti," she said, answering the question before it was spoken. 

"But you are dead,"  Esther whispered.

"Obviously. I am wrapped in white silk," she answered with a small smile, and both women gently laughed. 

"May we join you?" asked the older woman.

Esther nodded, still speechless. She had seen Atossa in the harem, but would never dare to speak to her.

"We come here," said Vashti, "to enjoy each other's company in a way we could not when I was queen. As queen, it was assumed I would have an adversarial relationship with my mother-in-law."

"Why?" blurted out  Esther  without thinking.

The other woman laughed, "Because, child, one would expect a new queen to be at odds with the head of harem. Vashti and I, however, have found comfort in each other's company."

"I should leave you, then,” murmured  Esther as she drew her own veil over her head.

"Stay," commanded the king's mother. Then she added, "Please. We would like you to stay."

"But...."

"Hegai has arranged for you to be here...to meet us. Don't let him feel as though he has failed. He has great faith in you; he is doing what he knows to be right not just for you, but for my son," said the king's mother. She swept past Esther into the gazebo and sat down. "Come sit with us, child; you have much to learn if you are to be queen."

"We are the voices of experience." The discarded queen took the seat on the other side of Esther. "Learn from us lest you repeat our mistakes."

So Atossa, the mother of Ahasverush, and Vashti, his discarded queen, chose to teach the young girl the secret ways of the palace. And from them, Esther learned  how to reach out to the king's head as well as his heart. 

Thus it was the wisdom and valor of women united that saved the Jews from Haman.

~ The End ~ 
Not really. It's just a beginning.

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week

Purim is costumes, candy and Hamantaschen ... 

but with a twist.

We don't trick or treat, we deliver the treats. 

Kinda like ding-dong-ditch

only everyone gets something good to eat.

Chag Purim Same'ach to all!

The Brothers Schvid rehearsing for Purim

What If They Held A Day of Hate...and no one showed up?

I am suffering through a wretched case of sniffleous. COVID negative, possible minor sinus infection that quickly resolved itself with lots of green tea with jasmine, and not enough of a sore throat to bother with, but that frickin' sniffleous took me down with a dull thud. 

I guess not breathing may have played a part, but I felt so lousy that on blizzard morning, I asked Ziggy for tea and toast. Wasn't 'til I actually opened my eyes that I figured out two major things: 1) he wasn't in the bed, and B) as the senior sympathetically pointed out, his dad, like Generalissimo Franco, is still dead. Y'know, I know this, but I was still annoyed that I had to get up to make my own tea and toast when I felt like my head was closer to the Titanic than to the surface.  

I was alert enough on Shabbat morning to flick on CNN to see what was happening with National Day of Hate. I admit, I was somewhat curious about who was gonna do what to whom, despite a couple of nagging ideas in the back of my head. As I was lying in state, much as Franco had once done, I watched CNN, then MSNBC for a while, before I checked in at (shudder) FOX before I fell asleep from boredom. When I awoke, still nothing was going on. Not exactly a surprise. 

Let's unpack this red herring a bit. 

To the best of my research, there was no evidence anyone applied for parade or gathering permits in preparation for Day of Hate rallies across the countr. That should've been a bit of a red herring flag right there. 

Okay, you're not gonna rally, but maybe you wanna blow something up.

Let's pretend you want to blow up the local synagogue. Do you announce it to the media prior to setting the explosives, or after setting them in place, but before detonation? Either way, bomb squads and sniffer dogs are gonna show up. After detonation, it's a sure bet they're gonna show.

Okay, no building. Maybe what you had in mind was a mass shooting. Again, are you gonna send out flyers to the media so they can catch you in action?  Nah, I don't think so. 

But the NYPD did. They sent out a secret memo that was leaked, of course, detailing what they thought, based on various social media posts, was being planned for this Day of Hate: graffiti, flyers, banners, stickers.

Yup. Stickers. 

Groups in Iowa, California, and New York, according to their social media, were on board to scare us all with stickers. I bet they even had bumper stickers made up. Someone should check hardware stores and assorted Walmarts for sharp increases in spray paint sales. 

But that didn't stop every cop house in the country from prepping battle gear just in case something went down. 

Sure, forewarned is forearmed. Granted, based on NYPD intelligence, nail polish remover and GooGone instead of assault weapons were more in order...but then again, maybe there were code words for guns (graffiti,) fireworks (flyers,) bazookas (banners,) or semi automatic rifles (stickers.) 

On the other hand....

What a great way to float a trial balloon...Chinese or otherwise... to see what precautions are being taken and how they are laid out. It's a reconnaissance mission. A dry run. A rehearsal. Call it what you will, but nothing happened on Shabbat because it wasn't supposed to.

Do not think for one New York minute that we are outta the woods on this. I think all the speechifying, pot banging, and sabre-rattling does not scare these guys. Quite the opposite. I think they gathered more than enough intelligence to actually do something on another date set aside to hate Jews, only this time, they are not gonna announce it to the media. 

The hate is being fanned on two sides, tragically enough. From the white supremacist side on the extreme right, and by the "anti Zionist" side of the extreme left. BOTH sides, people. "The left?" you ask. If you haven't figured it out yet, let me clarify the extreme left "anti Zionist" position. This is the new shadow phrase for antisemitism. "Anti-Zionists" conflate all Jews with an extreme form of Zionism that does not represent the majority of Jews either in the Diaspora or in Israel. You know as well as I do there are radical sides to every. group,  but do you damn an entire population for a wing-nut side? Usually, not, unless there are Jews involved; then it's okay.

photo: CARLO ALLEGRI/REUTERS

Jews have been expelled from almost every country in which we have settled as a small minority, where we were content to keep our laws and customs within our own communities, usually discouraging conversion, often shunning intermarriage, thriving in the businesses which we are permitted to operate. But that never stopped anyone from passing laws about how we were to dress, walk down the street, build our houses. It wasn't enough we gave the rest of you our Bible? Did we ever mention how we feel about cultural appropriation of our beliefs as you morphed them into something alien to us? How many times have you seen Jews rushing into a church or mosque to deface the building, or worse, shoot down worshippers in cold blood? Nah. I didn't think so.

Yet there is a segment of these here United States' population that thinks it's a great idea to sponsor a Day of Hate in our honor. Not that anything happened. No one seemed to show up. 

I don't know about any of you, but that's the part that worries me more. 

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Day

Never underestimate the grit and determination of

a newly minted 5-year old.

Lego directions today...tomorrow, Ikea...the day after that?

Maybe NASA.

Happy 5th Birthday, Young Sir

No Intro Tonight?

ZJOD the logo

Back in ye olden tymes, if Ziggy didn't have the impetus to write an intro for Ziggy's Joke o'the Day, he would just make a snarky comment, then publish the joke. 

I wish I had a joke to publish today, but alas, not my bailiwick. 

Right now, I have a whole bunch of changes to make to the look-book that will make it look even better. I know this is a total long shot, but there are nibbles out there who think it's definitely worth pitching, so I am more than happy to make this thing as snazzy as possible at the same time giving the viewer the push to want to make this limited series. 

Amongst other things, the person who evaluated the look book posed a question he thinks is crucial to answer: why this book now?

He said I had to write a passionate answer. Believe it or not, this is really hard for me. My tendency, when not writing fiction, is more dispassionate. Yeah, you can argue about me and my variety of soapboxes, but when I write about my own book, I tend toward less florid, hyperbolic prose and more towards just the facts, ma'am. 

I like DRAGNET, okay? But here's the thing Jack Webb's Joe Friday really didn't say that on the TV show. Dan Ackroyd, who played Joe Friday in the movie, said it. Which was kinda a parody anyway. It's one of those quotes that didn't really happen like, "Play it again, Sam," or "Judy, Judy, Judy." Not that any of that matters, but right here, right now, you're reading a research dump because I wasn't gonna use the quote unless I was sure it was right, which it's not. Get my drift? 

I may write fiction, but it's historical fiction. The actions of the characters are consistent with the time period. I'm really big on that. But that doesn't answer the question: why this book now?

The snarky answer is that not all Jewish stories are Holocaust stories, and Jewish women are not princesses. Batsheva is definitely not from the whiny princess division. Challenged by events, she figures out how to deal with the challenge, then dispatches it. Frankly, that's the real story of Jewish womanhood, but that image doesn't match the preconceived stereotypes, therefore it's of no interest to the general public. 

Wrong.

I would debate that vociferously; women who are continually challenged by events and continue to meet those challenges incrementally are very much of interest because they  tackle real life head on. The reader may not be able to predict what Batsheva will do next, but it's not because she's flighty; she is thoughtful, deliberate, and, most of all, driven to survive.

From the THE POMEGRANATE:

Lying on her back, staring up at the too familiar drape of the tent, she pondered the future. What would happen to her when he tired of her? Would he leave her in the desert to die? Or would he give her to his men for their pleasure? With no way of knowing where she was or if there was a city nearby to which she could escape, Batsheva had to decide how she would end her days. In all the lessons with the rabbi who came to tutor the Hagiz children, the sanctity of life was always stressed. One could eat pig meat if there was nothing else to eat, for to observe the law and die was worse than disregarding the law to live. God was omniscient. God would know the decisions she made were ones necessary for life. She knew that atop Masada, the people chose death over slavery, Kiddush ha-Shem, sanctification of the Holy Name, but somehow her situation did not warrant so drastic a measure. Not that she would have been able to carry out her own death sentence. In the scheme of all things, there was no choice to be made. She would survive as his slave for that was what she was while she would pray for rescue.

Thus, the decision to live was made. 

The cover of the look-book

The above quote is the best example of how Batsheva the character thinks. And as the days pass, however, she comes to the realization praying for rescue is not enough; she must control whatever she can. This is what Jewish women have done for generations, and still do every day. We did it in Spain, in Germany, in Ethiopia, in Yemen, in the United States...any place where Jews are threatened for being Jews. 

Everyone knows a Batsheva. Jewish or not, she walks the earth amongst us, standing strong for her family, taking shit from no one. She is Everywoman. 

Okay, break time is over....I gotta get back to work on this. If you haven't read the book, read the book. Share it with your friends and family. 

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week

Tomorrow is Rosh Chodesh Adar

(the first day of the month of Adar)

There's an old Jewish saying about that:

Be Happy! It's Adar!

Unless you're making Pesach....

then you know cleaning bomb detonation is 6 weeks away. 

Be afraid. Be very afraid. 

Or not. 

It's Game Playing in America!

Kelce brothers - 1 Chief, 1 Eagle.

I do not watch the Stupid Bowl. 

I do not watch the ads.

I do not care who wins or loses. Not even the Vikings...

Okay, I would care about a Vikings Super Bowl because Ziggy would've cared. 

Okay, I admit I liked the Kelce brothers playing against each other. Had to be hard on their mom. 

But the bottom line is, to be truthful, I think football does more harm than good. 

Escaping from the hype around the ads is kinda hard, but I pretty much don't give a flying fart in space who's manning the Dunkin' Donuts drive through. 

I did, however, give a flying fart over Bruce Springsteen's Jeep ad in 2021 telling America that Christianity is the middle of our country. And we should all strive to be in that middle. I resented the implication that unless you were moved to be in the chapel with the big cross, you were not a part of the "common ground." 

And while I didn't watch the M&Ms debacle, or even Rihanna's half-time show,  I did manage to see all of this year's contribution to America Isn't For Everyone courtesy of YouTube. 

HE GETS US brand campaign is all over the country. The link will take you to the overview of the campaign. Hey, take a look-see. Jesus is just like you. You're an immigrant? No prob; he was an immigrant. You have radical social ideas? Whoa, so did he. The government is trying to marginalize you? Wow, he was so marginalized he ended up in jail for his beliefs. See? Something for everyone. According to the folks running the ads, they are trying to "rebrand Jesus Christ in America" as Everyman...someone we can all relate to. 

Excuse me? Rebranding Jesus? Uh, you mean to tell me his brand isn't good enough? I guess their original plan wasn't bringing in the customers, so they're adjusting. 

While the idea of the campaign might look/sound great on the surface, the reality is that the movement is funded by people and organizations who do NOT support anything but their own narrow agenda...and it's about as far from civil rights and respect for the other as you can get. Hobby Lobby, the same people who refuse to cover drug insurance for women's reproductive health, is a big donor here. They are the same guys who fight against stuff like sane gun laws and expanded health care for all. Can you even imagine Jesus, whether or not you're a Christian, being against those things? The ads shout out all sorts of lovely acceptance tropes, but behind the scenes that same money is not helping the needy, not helping the country, and definitely not helping civil rights. 

Yeah, I can see Jesus saying to Lazarus, "Hey, dude, not much I can do if you don't have insurance." Just like I can see the board of Hobby Lobby saying, "Sure, we can cover Plan B."

The supporters of the campaign are praised, extolled, and admired by the same folks who support Feckless Loser and insurrection. They are the same folks who think George Santos and Anna Luna, another veracity-challenged pol, are qualified to sit in Congress. The same folks who think lying on your resume is as minor a deal as sex trafficking minors. They are the same folks who heckled and shouted down POTUS when he cited irrefutable facts about health insurance during SOTU. How are any of them qualified to speak on behalf of Americans, much less a guy they call their messiah? 

The people backing this thing are the living, breathing, examples of hypocrisy. They carry on about the sanctity of life while they block ANY and ALL legislation to remove automatic weapons from store shelves while trying to do away with background checks. Not exactly pro-life, people. The kids from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School made that real clear to America. And what did you folks do? You called them names. Yup; I can sure see Jesus doing that, too.

And for the record, Jesus was one of us....not US as in Americans...us as in Jews. So the next time you wanna practice your not-so-clandestine version of antisemitism, just remember, your buddy woulda been one of the beneficiaries of your hatred. 

Here's the thing, all you purveyors of greed and gilded religiosity: there is a difference between trying to sell the public your squeaky clean, compassionate fantasy of Jesus and the incredibly anti-Christian behavior you exhibit on a daily basis. You may think that young people are gonna buy this hipster rebranding effort because they're too dumb or too lazy to look behind the curtain, but let me assure you, this Wizard-of-Oz-look-behind-the-curtain generation is not. They know how to Google real well, and most of them don't buy into the "if you see it on the internet...." kind of thinking us oldsters are supposed to do. They see what you actually do in Congress and in state government, and they know politically obscene when they see it.The bottom line? They're not gonna make a beeline back to church because of some hotline. They are way more sophisticated than that. 

Do not underestimate the coming generation. I listen to Little Miss dissect a podcast and I know these kids are way ahead of wherever we ever were. They are smart and they are savvy. Much smarter and much more savvy than any of you who are pushing this pseudo-agenda. 

Jesus the guy might get the full spectrum of what America is supposed to be...but it's pretty clear that you do not. 

As that next generation goes looking for someone who gets it, they're gonna find Jeff Jackson because he's walking the walk, talking the talk, and posting it. That's what we all should be looking for: someone who puts his face and his mouth on the line. 

I want you all to listen to North Caroline Congressman Jeff Jackson. He is doing what every congress clown should be doing: he's posting regular updates about what he's doing now that he's on Capitol Hill. Some of it is terribly funny, some will make you mad because that's the only thing you can be. But Representative Jackson is that rare bird in the House: he's the adult in the room. Please listen to what he has to say about Congress:

Jeff Jackson: The Outrage Olympics

Watch more of his stuff. It's great. He's what I always imagined a Congressman should be like: American first, party guy last. I hope he stays this way. 

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week

In all likelihood, you're reading this on Tuesday

February 14th.

Hug someone today.

You never know when that won't be an option.  

Hey, Ziggy! Whaddya mean we, Kemosabe?