Then & Now
Sunday, March 01, 2009
"People like Wilders are always controversial, and they are never perfect. Yet, imagine if such a person had come to this country from Germany in 1934, to warn us about an unimaginable horror being prepared for Europe’s Jews. How many people would have dismissed such warnings as alarmist propaganda?"
--Rabbi Jon Hausman 3/1/2009
"I can remember back in High School [Simon Gratz High School, Philadelphia, PA 1937-1938] a Jewish Rabbi that spoke--He escaped from Germany and Hitler and talked about it. At that time no one believed him or that something that terrible could take place--not even the Jews!"
--My grandfather's memoirs, entry dated "Armistice Day 1988"
Labels: America, geert wilders, Hitler, Islam, Jewish, Jews, Nazis
posted by Shoshana @ 7:48 PM
Justice, Justice Shall You Pursue
Sunday, February 22, 2009
This post at the Muqata is the most succinct way of explaining the faults of the Israeli political system as well as the general corruption of its politicians. Needless to say, there is a reason the American government was set up with a series of checks and balances meant to keep politicians in their place.
However, when the majority of the politicians in each branch of government subscribe to the same groupthink, the theory of checks and balances goes out the window. Which is why our founding fathers stressed over and over again the necessity of moral integrity, because without it, a government that grants such an incredible amount of freedom as does ours, will surely fail.
One of the things that struck me in yesterday's parashah (Mishpatim: Exodus 21:1-24:18) was Exodus 23:2:
Do not follow the crowd when it does what is wrong; and don't allow the popular view to sway you into offering testimony for any cause if the effect will be to pervert justice.The more you interact with the world at large, the more you see the world divide itself into little cliques of humanity based on their own world views. They all interact with each other on a daily basis, but they each see the world so differently that, at times, communication can be like culture shock. But, it seems that every group is so ingrained in their own worldview that they can't imagine that the other groups don't see the world the same way they do.
For example: American-Muslim relations. Many Americans still can't seem to understand the idea that there are muslim governments out there that really do want us dead. These are the people who danced in the streets when their fellow men flew themselves into the Twin Towers, and there are still a large number of Americans who feel we ought to have open and direct talks with them. Their leaders refer to us as the "Great Satan" and certain Americans are ready to invite them to tea. And these certain Americans wind up being given the voter mandate to go ahead and do it!
Now, that's a very basic, very illustrative example of what I'm talking about. But, the problem goes deeper than that, and the Jewish and Christian communities are far from immune. In fact, the clique mentality present within the believing community (be it Christian or Messianic Jewish) can, at times, be downright overwhelming. I've heard accounts ranging from simple gossip to selective "invite only" events that have happened in churches and shuls, and it never ceases to blow my mind. And the worst part about it is that the clique mentality is so apparent...and 99% of the time NOBODY does anything about it!
Whatever happened to calling people on the carpet and telling it like it is? Then again, if HaShem had to make going against the flow a commandment, truth and honesty must be fairly foreign to human nature. But, when we know G-d aren't we supposed to be better than that? Whatever happened to the "old nature passing away"? Or, "this word is in your mouth, even in your heart, therefore you can do it"?
I know I complain a lot on this blog. I tend to point out the failures of humanity more than the successes. And I'm a scathing critic. But I do it from the perspective that it can be better--human behavior can be better, because human beings can choose to be better people. We can all make a conscious choice to acknowledge that justice is being perverted and to do something about it. The Torah admonishes "Justice, justice shall you pursue." In other words: Do it right, and call someone out when they're doing it wrong. After all, isn't that what faith in G-d is all about: Speaking the truth?
Ah, but "What is truth?" One of my brother's college professors once told him, "There's your truth, there's my truth, and then there's the truth." So much for college. Nothing beats producing confident go-getting professionals by telling them they're essentially always going to be wrong. Faith is an amazing thing; it is also an essential component when it comes to speaking the truth. The parashah ends with G-d calling Moshe and the leaders of Israel to approach Him. The account in chapter 24, verses 9-11 reads:
Moshe, Aharon, Nadav, Avihu and seventy of the leaders went up; and they saw the G-d of Israel. Under His feet was something like a sapphire stone pavement as clear as the sky itself. He did not reach out His hand against these notables of Israel; on the contrary, they saw G-d, even as they were eating and drinking.Truth is so foreign to the human psyche that we need faith in order to believe that what we know, what we speak, and what we believe is really the truth. Truth and faith are intertwined. You cannot have one without the other. If you try, you may impress yourself with your eloquence, but you will never be able to believe that G-d has manifest Himself in your midst. So, you will be standing on the strength of your own opinion, and human strength is only as powerful as the wind that comes blowing against it from the opposite direction.
The greatest heroes of Israel were the men and women who went against the crowd. Five thousand years later, human beings haven't changed much. They're still cliquing away into destruction. Heaven and earth may pass away, "but My Word will never pass away." The ones who go against the grain have to cling to the truth with sheer faith for such a time as this. That is the key to the future and the hope manifest in the banquet of eternity that was once laid out on the mountains of this earth.
Labels: America, Elections, Israel, Mishpatim, politics, religion, Torah
posted by Shoshana @ 11:00 AM
Hatikvah b'Yisrael
Wednesday, February 04, 2009
I can't read American news anymore. It's too depressing. As much as I appreciate Glenn Beck's well-deserved tirades against the idiocy in this country, I can't stomach much more of the Obamanation this country has become.
Why? Because I know where it's leading. I don't need Dick Cheney to tell me that Obama's pro-Muslim tuchus-kissing is paving the way for terror attacks in the United States and the slow Muslim takeover of the nation. Why? I lived through the 90s, people! I remember Oslo! How long did it take you to forget the bus bombings, suicide bombers, and endless promises of more Israeli land, more Israeli homes, more Israeli soldiers, and more Israeli lives for hudnas and intifadas? Wait, let me guess-- it took you as long to forget that as it did for you to decide "Gee, that Obama, he's a pretty cool dude." Please--bevakasha--spare me.
My hope is in Israel. My hope is in the covenant G-d has with Israel and in the sheer fact that if we do it right, if we ask for mercy and at least try to make the right decisions, G-d will have mercy on us and act on our behalf. Right now, that entails getting the right leaders into the Knesset. So far, the polls are in Israel's favor-- maybe, just maybe after years of leftist, terrorist-tuchus-kissing "leadership" we'll have someone who is willing to actually fight terrorism to win not just "severely disable infrastructure" in order to perpetuate another "hudna" before the rockets resume.
A few days ago I got my first copy of Eretz Nehederet in the mail. Since reading about the show and seeing clips on YouTube a few years ago, I've wanted to check out Israel's version of SNL-- call it "Erev Shabbat Live". I've hesitated to do so before now because I don't know Hebrew and the DVDs aren't subtitled. But now, listening to straight Hebrew is a relief. It's a reminder that we aren't in the ghettos and we never have to be again--we aren't just "Joos" anymore; we are, and we all can be Israel.
All we have to do is realize that we're each others best and only allies and stop treating each other with this insane diaspora-fed ideology of fear and suspicion that serves only to divide, not unify us. Whether it is the "Too Jewish", "Not Jewish Enough", or "No Aliyah for Me" argument, it is all divisive. Diaspora Jews need to get over it and look at Israel-- look at what we can become if we look past our disagreements (which will always exist-- why do you think G-d created the minyan?) and acknowledge that we aren't just a cultural group-- we are a nation, and we're all in this together.
More on Eretz Nehederet later... right now, it's time for my Hebrew lesson.
Labels: America, Eretz Nehederet, Israel, Jewish, Obama
posted by Shoshana @ 7:06 PM
Prayer Request & Strengthening Resolve
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Via IsraellyCool:
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert indicated that Israel would give Egyptian brokered cease-fire talks a chance before deciding to expand Operation Cast Lead. But he made clear that Israel will stop the operation only if Hamas rocket fire and smuggling stops.Meanwhile, according to bunkered-down Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh:
Egypt reportedly exerted fierce pressure on Hamas to accept the ceasefire proposal, warning them that a refusal to do so would lead to Israel expanding its ground operation, in effect meaning an end to Hamas rule over Gaza. As of the writing of this post, there are no signs of a breakthrough in the negotiations.
Meanwhile, there are reports that IDF soldiers are advancing into Gaza’s suburbs.
<"We will deal positively with any initiative aimed at ending the offensive," he said.This was said only last night, and was followed by a bunch of anti-Israeli slurs made while "citing several versus from the Koran".
However, Haniyeh said that Hamas would also continue to fight against the "occupation forces" of Israel.
Clearly, this isn't about rockets and tunnels and terrorist "infrastructure" being eliminated. Those are the effects, not the cause of the problem. The cause itself must be eliminated: Hamas must be wiped off the face of the earth and Gush Katif must return back to the people to whom the land belongs. Period.
Anything less would render this war futile. And I think the Israeli public is tired of fighting futile wars.
In other news, Israeli bloggers have been following the story of a U.S. arms shipment to Israel for the past few days-- well, apparently the shipment has been "cancelled due to the conflict in the Gaza Strip." Feh. America has always maintained a "too little, too late" approach to intervention on Israel's behalf, anyway. Forget America. Israel can do this on her own. We have Adonai-- who does America have? Barack Hussein? HA!
From Jameel at the Muqata:
Personal Request from Jameel: Please add to your prayers, a full recovery for the IDF soldier, Aharon Yehoshua ben Chaya Shoshana, who was very seriously wounded last night in Gaza.Baruch haShem for healing for Aharon Yehoshua ben Chaya Shoshana b'Shem Yeshua haMashiach!
12:48 PM IDF Radio reports that seriously wounded IDF combat officer Aharon Yehoshua ben Chaya Shoshana, was married only 2 weeks ago. He left his troops from the Gaza front a few hours before his wedding, got married, and the following morning was back at the front with his troops. (more in a second, air raid sirens in Ashkelon)
Labels: America, cease fire, Egypt, Gaza, Hamas, IDF, Israel, Obama, peace, truce
posted by Shoshana @ 7:26 AM
Pushing Onward and Looking Upward
Saturday, January 10, 2009
In her latest JPost op/ed, Caroline Glick says what we've known for years:
Israel is fighting a war with Hamas today because Israel withdrew from Gaza three and a half years ago. If Israel had not withdrawn its military forces from Gaza and forcibly expelled 8,000 Israeli citizens from their homes and farms in September 2005, it would not be fighting this war today. If Israel had not withdrawn, if it had retained its forces in Gaza and retained its communities - on whose ruins the IDF now fights - in Gaza, Hamas would probably never have taken over. And even if Hamas had taken over, it would never have been able to threaten a million Israelis with missiles and rockets and mortars.Now, the JPost is reporting, "The dropping of the leaflets appeared to be partly a psychological tactic. Defense officials are prepared for a third stage of the offensive, in which soldiers would push much further into Gaza, but are waiting for approval from the government. The officials said the army had also planned a fourth stage that called for a full reoccupation of Gaza and toppling Hamas."
Glick ends her op/ed by stating:
TODAY THE IDF owes its operational competence to the public's humiliation and sacking of Halutz, Peretz and Olmert. On the other hand, Israel's diplomatic incompetence, and our leadership's continued refusal to accept that Sharon was right when he said, "As goes Netzarim so goes Tel Aviv," is rendering a true victory over Hamas impossible.In short, Israel must re-take Gaza and the decision to reconquer and re-inhabit the land belongs to Israel's voting public.
If we are ever to get on the right path in Gaza, as well as in Judea and Samaria and beyond, our first order of business as the public must be to force the politicians who brought us to this point to pay a price at the ballot box for their blind and dangerous incompetence. It is only by humiliating them in elections that we can be sure that their successors will be too frightened to repeat their mistakes.
According to Israel National News:
Several Jewish nationalist groups have come together to sponsor a massive PR campaign calling to return to Jewish towns in Gaza. "There is a solution: Going back to Gush Katif," the campaign's posters say.Will it be enough? This morning, both CNN and Fox News reported that the "end" of the "crisis" (because they can't call it a "war" because that's "mean") may only be a few days away. Of course, they also reported that more IDF Reservists have been called up to go into Gaza. Which, of course prompted me to check the LiveBloggers. First, IsraellyCool:
Advertisements bearing the slogan have been placed on 1,500 buses, and soon will go up on billboards throughout the country.
5:39AM: Aussie Dave here.And then, The Muqata:
Ynetnews reports that Defense Minister Ehud Barak has ordered the military to broaden its activity in the Strip, given that Hamas has suffered a severe blow.
...
12:30PM: Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has vowed to press on with our offensive against Hamas in Gaza, and stated that Israel is close to achieving its goals.
My inner cynic says this means Israel will accept a ceasefire in the very near future.
9:50 AM Cabinet considering expanding Gaza operation even further. IDF wants to continue operations until at least the end of January.I trust the opinions of these guys more than the mainstream media. Maybe it's because they're Israeli. They're there. And they aren't a bunch of left-wing propagandists plagued with Jewish self-hatred and/or bent on Israel's destruction. So, when one of them expresses cynicism at Olmert's comment, I tend to be on guard. At the same time, the IDF's continued desire to push in and table a time frame give me encouragement. As I understand it, the IDF must receive approval from the Israeli Security Council (Livni-Barak-Netanyahu) before they make a move. However, since all three of the ISC players are up for re-election in a month, they'd be stupid to go against IDF recommendation now. Especially since the Israeli public has given this offensive an approval rating solidly in the 90th percentile.
...
10:35 AM BREAKING NEWS. Phase 3 of the attack on Hamas may have begun with tanks moving into Gaza neighborhoods.
...
5:18 PM IDF Censor releases for publication; About an hour ago, Gunfire from Syria directed at Israelis at workers in the area of the village of Alonei HaBashan on the Golan Heights. Israel has raised a formal complaint with the UN. No injuries reported.
Comprehend this: The fate of the civilized world is in the hands of the Israeli people. I hope they know this. I think they do. I hope Americans know this. I think a lot of average people do... but I'm sure that large minority is dwindling as we get closer and closer to Inauguration Day. I wonder, will the American people have to go through an Oslo and a few Intifadas before they realize that giving in is not an option?
Labels: America, Gaza, IDF, Israel, war
posted by Shoshana @ 11:32 PM
Eerily Quiet on the Information Front
Thursday, January 01, 2009
In this postmodern era of 24 hour information and updates, we're used to a news cycle that moves fast and often declares wars to be over before they've even started.
Not this time.
The media has been strangely quiet over the past week since the IDF bombings of Gaza began. It isn't that they haven't covered the story...it's that the updates are rather few and far between, and contain very little new information.
The IDF have generally handled themselves exceedingly well regarding media relations. There are no Geraldos on the front, drawing up battle maps on prime time news for every enemy with a Satellite dish or cable connection to download and transmit at whim. The IDF distributes information carefully and sparingly. Now, however, there are some additional factors at play that greatly assist Israel's ongoing battle with the mainstream media and world opinion.
1. The holidays. No major American news network wants to talk about Israel bombing the crap out of terrorists on New Year's Eve or New Year's Day. It took a full half-hour for Fox News to even talk about the story on New Year's Eve. Outside of reporting on Israel's rejection of France's ceasefire proposal, CNN and the Big Three didn't mention Israel's raids at all during the 7-8 am EST hour I caught. Which is odd, since a major Middle Eastern war on the horizon would, in most people's minds, carry a lot more weight than, say, a report on hip New Year's Eve party outfits.
2. The Israeli Elections. Olmert and Livni may have been ready and willing to accept a Quartet ceasefire in Lebanon in 2006, but right now, their party is on the line. So is Bibi's. With elections less than 2 months away, and statistics showing that the majority of Israelis want the rockets to stop--even if that means a ground invasion--no political official is going to write away their chance to stay at the top now.
3. The Last Days of the Bush Administration. Bush's tacit support of Israel and condemnation of Hamas is something no Israeli government would count on from Obama. Israel knows their time to act is limited.
The best analysis I've seen/heard so far came from John Bolton on Hannity & Colmes earlier this week. IsraelMatzav has a rundown with video here.
I agree with Bolton; as long as Israel continues to hold her own despite world opinion to the contrary, this very well may lead to a greater battle in the region. Reporting from the Gaza/Israel border today, Fox News correspondent David Lee Miller sounded shaken, to say the least. At points, he sounded terrified. I've been watching this guy cover the region for years, and I've never heard that kind of wavering in his voice. Perhaps, at this 11th hour, Israel is finally shoving world opinion aside and taking the bull by the horns. That doesn't mean the battle will be easy, but that is what has to be done. The entire free world should be grateful that, yet again, a small band of Jews are standing up to the enemies of the same freedoms we so readily take for granted and often too easily give away. Truth be told, we owe these men and women our lives. Perhaps, one day, when things get bad enough in America, Americans will realize that. Until then, the conflict will build here.
It's already starting. Just check out the latest posts on Atlas Shrugs. The Muslim outcry is so well orchestrated, it is as if they've just been waiting in the wings to pounce in protest the first time the Jews dare lift a finger to defend themselves. Watch out, America. You're about to inaugurate a Hussein. If you think Freedom of Speech is being abused now...you'd better wake up and realize your dark days are just ahead of you.
For some reason it doesn't seem to bother most Americans that Muslims and Muslim-supporters have gathered in New York, Philadelphia, Dallas, San Francisco, Dearborn, and other cities across the U.S. to stage large, anti-Israel protests. I urge anyone reading this blog to take a look at one blogger's experience attending a pro-Israel rally, wherein they were termed "Jew Faggot" by Palestinian supporters:
I was also informed by several other supporters of the Palestinian cause that I was a dog, a pig, a monkey, inhuman, the son of a whore, and that I deserved to be shot, gutted, slashed open, have my children killed, and see my wife raped.This pro-Israel blogger was one of 100 people standing up against 3,000 well organized Palestinian supporters from a number of radical hate groups--groups that have been organizing under our nose for years, unabated.
I have reading for the New Year sitting by my bed:
STEALTH JIHAD by Robert Spencer
AMERICAN JIHAD by Steven Emerson
WHILE EUROPE SLEPT by Bruce Bawer
...along with a review of PREACHERS OF HATE by Ken Timmerman
This is where America is heading. Only by the grace of God and His blessing on the Israeli military at this crucial hour can we even hope anything will be different.
May God bless the Israel Defense Forces and fight on their behalf for all of our sakes. Not that the world has ever done much for God or the nation of Israel-- the simple truth is that if we do not rely on Him and His people now, no one will be left.
posted by Shoshana @ 4:21 PM
This Says It All
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Via Drudge
Labels: America, American elections, Israel, Obama, palestinians, President, Presidential Election
posted by Shoshana @ 8:55 AM
Hit a Jew Day
Monday, October 27, 2008
Shocked by the CNN report logged at Israel Matzav, I Googled, and sure enough: It is "Hit a Jew Day" in Missouri [SperoNews]
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL), concerned over reported incidents targeting Jewish students at Parkway West Middle School in the suburbs of St. Louis MO, will meet with school officials on October 24 to discuss implementing an anti-bias education and response. A number of Jewish students at the school were hit by fellow classmates during the week October 12-18 on what the students called "Hit a Jew Day."IsraelMatzav ends his blog entry with a warning: "If you're Jewish, you don't want to be on the streets next Tuesday night if John McCain wins the election. You just know they're going to blame the Jews."
...The incident began during the school’s “Spirit Week” that included Hug a Friend Day, High Five Day, Hit a Tall Person Day, to Hit a Jew Day. Many such schools celebrate their Spirit Week similarly, with Cross-Dressing Day, Camouflage Day, or Pajamas Day, etc.
Is his reaction heavy-handed superstition?
Can we afford to define it as such?
Obama has friendly and financial relationships with a number of anti-Israel/anti-Jewish activists including Edward Said and PLO terrorist Rashid Khalidi, of whom Obama spoke very highly:
Barack Obama also praised the former PLO operative during the event. And, Obama confessed that his family often shared dinner with the Khalidis:I hate authors who quote themselves, but I'm going to do it here to make an important point. From Freedom's Current Crisis:His many talks with the Khalidis, Obama said, had been "consistent reminders to me of my own blind spots and my own biases... It's for that reason that I'm hoping that, for many years to come, we continue that conversation -- a conversation that is necessary not just around Mona and Rashid's dinner table," but around "this entire world."...The event was videotaped, and a copy of the tape was obtained by The Times. Khalidi and the Obamas were great friends in Chicago and often shared meals together.
...The LA Times has video of Obama toasting a former PLO operative at a Jew-bash but will not release the video.
...Charles Johnson adds that Weather Underground terrorists Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn attended the same 'dinner.'
Why wouldn't Ayers and Dorn attend a function in honor of a PLO terrorist? They probably trained alongside him as members of the Weather Underground!
...A Lexis-Nexis news database search of 40 years worth of major American newspaper archives returns one article detailing the timeline of transactions between Castro and the PLO. Please note that, unless otherwise stated, all quotes and facts come from Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen’s concisely detailed article "Castro’s Link to the PLO" printed in The Washington Times on July 24, 1990.
"The ties between communist Cuba and the PLO go back at least to 1966, when Mr. Castro hosted the Tri-Continental Conference, which brought together more than 500 delegates from radical groups around the world, including the PLO, to devise an international strategy to counter 'American imperialism.' … The relationship between Mr. Castro and the PLO is mutually beneficial because each fits into the other's grand strategy. Diplomatically, politically and militarily, Castro and the PLO work hand-in-hand."
...In the late 1960s, the growing number of young militant communist factions in Europe traveled to Cuba, among other places, to train alongside Islamic militants and Arab insurgents from the PLO, Hamas, and similar organizations.
...Marxist groups aided the PLO in executing terrorist acts. In one instance, the Red Army Faction (formerly the Bader-Meinhoff Group, a collective of Marxist Germans) joined with the Black September Group to help murder Israeli Olympians during the 1972 Munich Olympics. In 1976, the PLO, along with a group of German dissidents, was unsuccessful in hijacking a plane at Nairobi International Airport. As a result, two of the German dissidents, Thomas Reider and Brigida Schultz, were arrested and jailed. The Entebbe hijack that occurred six months later was PLO retaliation for their allies’ imprisonment. (History International)
..."The PLO assists Marxist-Leninist guerrillas around the world because they see it as the best way to fight Israel's main ally, the United States. The intent is to drain U.S. energies and resources and to distract the United States from playing an active role in the Middle East."
...Ms. Ros-Lehtinen was, at the time, a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. She ended her article with the poignant words: "The PLO and Mr. Castro play a vital role in international terrorism, and the partnership between them must not be ignored."
Can Barack Obama's character be made any clearer?
Seriously?
What else do we need to do to illustrate his Marxism? Get him to wear an "I HEART FIDEL" or "ARAFAT 4-EVER" button below his much-discussed and miniscule American flag pin?
Marxism birthed communism, socialism, and fascism. These movements birthed Nazi Germany, Soviet Russia, Fascist Italy, Communist China, North Korea, Vietnam, the PLO, Castro's Cuba, the Weather Underground, the Black Power movement, Saddam's Iraqi regime, and, in part, Ahmadinnerjacket's Iran. Marxism has been the driving force of the liberal wing of the Democrat Party since the 1960s-- and has roots in that party that go back to the 1930s and before! (Just ask Whittaker Chambers.)
Can the connections be any clearer?
America, do you get it?
Hitler was elected.
Is that a heavy-handed comment?
Can we afford to define it as such?
Cross-posted at: The Jewish Cowgirl
Labels: America, Anti Semitism, Elections, Hit a Jew Day, Israel, Marxism, Obama, PLO, President, Rashid Khalidi, Socialism
posted by Shoshana @ 10:47 AM
URGENT: A Night of Prayer & Fasting for America
Wednesday, October 08, 2008
Tonight begins the Jewish fast of Yom Kippur. We gather together as a community to ask G-d for His mercy in forgiving our sins and blessing us with another year of life. Quick Biblical reference is Leviticus 23.
This year, Yom Kippur isn't just a Jewish thing.
Our nation is in serious need of G-d's mercy. We've got a "friend to the terrorists" running for President of the United States. Nothing is more serious than the possibility of a Hussein in the White House.
That's why I'm asking everyone who reads this blog--Jewish or not--to participate in a night of prayer and fasting for America. Since Yom Kippur starts at sundown, it can be as simple as skipping your nightly snack and humbling yourself for a few minutes before G-d in honest prayer.
Our nation is at stake. Can we do at least that much to help?
Pass it along to your friends, your family, your Pastors, and your Rabbis: tonight is a night to get serious before the Almighty and pray for this nation, to sacrifice a meal so we don't have to sacrifice our lives to the threat of a socialized government and anti-American ideologies both here and abroad receiving carte blanche from the highest office in the land.
Tonight. Sundown. Skip the snack and pray:
May G-d Bless America.
Cross-posted at The Jewish Cowgirl
Labels: America, American elections, Biden, McCain, Obama, Sarah Palin, Yom Kippur
posted by Shoshana @ 8:40 AM
Sarah Palin: Standing With Israel
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Via Israpundit:
I just attended a rally for her (Gov Palin) here in Anchorage where she spoke before going back on the campaign trail. I wore an Israeli/USA flags lapel pin on my shirt. Knowing that Sarah Palin flies a small Israeli flag in the window of her Juneau office. When she made it to me I stuck my hand out, with the pin I’d removed from my shirt in my hand, and left it in her hand when we shook. She was taken aback, wondering, what the heck is this? After she looked down to see what it was, she looked back up at me and kind of gasped, holding her hand over her heart and saying "THANK YOU!" I shouted back, "STAND WITH ISRAEL! She nodded and paused and looked me right in the eyes and said very seriously with a stiff and confident nod, "I WILL wear this." She is a real person, very sincere. I was glad to hear her tell Charlie Gibson repeatedly that we should NEVER 2nd guess ANYTHING Israel decides it needs to do to protect themselves.
Labels: America, American elections, Israel, Sarah Palin
posted by Shoshana @ 9:55 PM
Why I Like Sarah Palin:
Thursday, September 04, 2008
[Ed. Note: I know, I know, this is supposed to be a blog that focuses on the Messianic movement and subsequent veins thereof; since we live in a world in which "we are all links in a chain" as my mother would say, political commentary matters-- especially to believers, and especially to Jewish people. So, I'm getting political; so should the yeshiva-boys. (Like they already don't in their own way....)]
I'm sitting here listening to Chris Thile's album Not All Who Wander Are Lost which is *the* perfect soundtrack to accompany a discussion about the Republican Veep nom, because the bluegrass tunes, much like the hockey mom-turned-Governor, are so inherently American. As much as I hesitate to admit it sometimes, there is something so freaking beautiful about the soul of this country. According to the democrats, because I am a white, middle class, Jewish female in a certain age bracket, with a certain level of education under her belt, who lives in a certain area of the country, I am supposed to be a cynical, self-loathing, nation-hating anti-patriot bent on self-destruction through the socialization of my federal government. But, you know what? I can't be. I like this place too much.
There are a lot of perspectives I could take on Sarah Palin.
I could write as a woman about how great it is to see another woman get nominated for V.P., but honestly, in the world of feminist tripe, how shallow of a comment is that?
I could write as a Jew and get antsy about her Evangelical background and attendance at a church where David Brickner from Jews for Jesus was invited to speak, but honestly, I find her faith more helpful than harmful. After all, it isn't like the woman or her pastor are strapping explosive vests onto their kids and sending them into crowds of Jews; her son is going into the Army to beat Al-Quaida, not crash himself into a national landmark.
Heck, I could even write within my democrat-approved demographic and say that because of my age, my gender, my education, my geographical region, and my ethnic makeup that I think Sarah Palin is no Hillary Clinton, which is true. Sarah Palin is no Hillary Clinton-- which is why I would vote for her in a heartbeat.
But, I think I'm going to write this one out as a working class, Wal Mart-shopping, cowboy-boots wearing, ponytail-bearing, once-and-therefore-always-Texan, history-loving American with hardcore flag-waving roots. So, let me begin by saying: I like Sarah Palin because she's an American, just like me. She's a wife and mother with normal kids and a husband who works hard. She goes to church and actually believes in the Bible she holds every Sunday, because she understands that leaders must have the attitude of servants. Yet, she's proud enough of her history to "take the bull by the horns," as my grandfather often said, and "tell it like it is." The best thing the McCain camp could have done, they did: They researched and found a politician with the right combination of government experience and down to earth American character.
Joe Biden was all over the mainstream media during this morning's news hour, scrambling with his liberal newscaster cohorts to throw half-hearted blows in Palin's direction. It is evident that they don't have a thing to go on. Sure, Sarah's delivery was great, and her one-liners about B. Hussein Obama were fantastic, but even more than that: everything she said about energy independence, fighting terrorism (and B. Hussein's willingness to negotiate), and the economy was right on the money. As Clive Crooks over at the Atlantic Monthly notes:
Well, the Democrats have a problem. They had a few days of calling her a clueless redneck, a stewardess, a nonentity, and she has hurled that back in their bleeding gums. (If I were Joe Biden, I'd start practising for October 2nd right now.) Even before tonight's speech, they had backed off the "no experience" strategy, because (as the Republicans intended) that was sending shrapnel in Obama's direction.But, here's the kicker: Most who can't beat 'em, join 'em, but Palin is forcing the hardcore liberals to draw a line in the sand. Crooks goes on to say:
Where they will have to end up is obvious: McCain-Palin is an extreme right-wing ticket. It is a team that will prosecute the culture war against all that is decent and civilized in the United States: that must be the line.Classic Marxists to the end, the liberals play the pot calling the kettle black. Suddenly, Sarah Palin, who represents the majority of American citizens (what one bleeding-heart liberal I know called "the poor farm girls of the American midwest"), is the one attacking all that is "holy and good" (and I use those terms very loosely in this context) in the eyes of liberals the nation-over. Liberals who would sooner sell us out to Iran than stick a few drills into barren Alaskan tundra. Liberals accuse the Evangelical Hockey Mom of waging a war they created and are busy fighting every day: a war against the culture and values that made this country great. Do they really think all us lipsticked pit bulls will let them get away with that?
You see, the thing about Sarah is that she resonates with a person who is tired of being let down by a system that is so overloaded, you can't half-see the pork from the bull, let alone wade through it all. Perhaps the mainstream media is having such a hard time criticizing her because she isn't this or that-- like so many of the rest of us average Americans, Sarah Palin just is, and there's not much arguing with that.
Yesterday, I couldn't have given a hoot about this election. My only concern was keeping my passport updated so I could make a quick run for it if B. Hussein got elected. Now, I'm interested. I'm interested to see if the real America I love is all it's cracked up to be. I'm interested to see the real America put up a fight-- and win.
Labels: America, American elections, culture, Liberals, McCain, Sarah Palin
posted by Shoshana @ 5:45 PM
Bits & Pieces-- and a Look at Things to Come
Monday, August 18, 2008
Iran Satellite is a Dummy [Israel National News] <~~~ Because, if it was real, and if they truly had that kind of technology, and if they really thought they could, they would have sent a missile Israel's way by now. Duh.
The West’s Islamist Infiltrators [NetWMD]
Aafia Siddiqui, 36, is a Pakistani mother of three, an alumna of MIT, and a Ph.D. in neuroscience from Brandeis University. She is also accused of working for Al-Qaeda and was charged last week in New York City with attempting to kill American soldiers.And people wonder why I dislike academia.
Seriously. Take a look at the curriculum posted on the English Department websites of major American universities. English departments, where students supposedly learn how to take a critical approach to literature and, in some cases, media of all sorts. Check out, for instance, UPenn, where they're teaching Marx and American Studies this semester, or UCal San Diego where this Fall's classes like "ISLAM MODERNITY" explore "A survey of developments in the Islamic world during the period of European colonial domination and its aftermath, with special attention to the works of leading Muslin thinkers (e.g. Sayid Ahmed Khan, Muhammad Abduh, Hasan al Banna, Ruhallah Khomeini, among others)." Do you wonder why American students walk into college naive and leave brainwashed?
Postmissionary Messianic Judaism, Three Years Later
Mark Kinzer, the author of the controversial text Postmissionary Messianic Judaism (about which I have commented on previously, to a slight degree) has recently delivered a 27-page paper reflecting on the reactions to his book, the full text of which can be found by clicking on the link above. Needless to say, I plan on reading the paper and commenting on it in the near future. Stay tuned!
Labels: America, College, Iran, Islam, Israel, Mark Kinzer, University
posted by Shoshana @ 5:45 PM
Barack Insane Obama, et al
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Last Thursday, my local rag featured a front page pic gratis the AP of Barack Obama "saluting" a throng of German onlookers who, like him, were raising their right arms at a 45-degree angle, enamoured expressions pasted on their faces.
Yeah, creepy.
Why is a United States Presidential candidate campaigning all over Europe and the Middle East, anyway? The official line was that Obama was illustrating how he'd "repair America's image abroad." Shouldn't he care a bit more about what the actual voters think of him, as opposed to accusing the voters of being unpopular with crowds of people they don't hang with on a daily basis anyway?
Then again, Obama's thinking is screwed up in more ways than one. He also believes in linkage a theory that contends that if the "Israel problem" were solved, the Arabs would be happy and the world would be at peace. Since when did world peace depend on a group of disparate tribesmen who subscribe to a 7th-century religion created by a pederast that condemns as "death-worthy" the people and faith that formed the basic foundations of modern civilization? Forget Hussein-- Barack's middle name is Insane.
The mainstream media continues to shut McCain out--limiting airtime on coverage of his campaign as well as, in the case of the New York Times, refusing to print his rebuttal to an Obama op/ed. The mainstream media's bias is so evident it's downright boring. Can't they at least be a little more cleverly deceptive about it? Apparently, I'm not the only one who notices.
Jewish World News's Israel Update did a story this week on the continual arms buildup off the Lebanese/Israeli coastline. Hizbullah, thanks to Iran, is building up Lebanon's Navy (among other things) while Israel just contracted to buy updated naval technology from the U.S.
Building, building, building... it all keeps building up...
Labels: America, Elections, Israel, Obama, Zionism
posted by Shoshana @ 11:05 PM
I Vote Aliyah
Sunday, June 29, 2008
**Ed. Note: Because of this disturbing news all future posts on this site will be cross-posted at our WordPress location: http://unifiedbody.wordpress.com a backup location I started at the nascence of this blog for times and situations like these.
If you're a fan (and I know you're out there-- thank you for the emails of support!) bookmark the link. I'm going to try and update the sidebar links at the wordpress location this week so the two sites mirror each other in content, if not in design.
Thanks for reading, and keep those comments coming! /Ed. Note**
Now, onto the weekly commentary.
If you think gas prices are bad in America, check out Carl in Jerusalem's blog post, Islamists seek to collapse the dollar? over at IsraelMatzav. And while you're there (or if you're still here) check out the Middle East Media Research Institute's report Mujahideen Monitor U.S. Economy, Attempt to Undermine Dollar which begins by stating:
Numerous postings on Islamist websites in the past two years reflect the mujahideen's growing interest in the state of the U.S. economy. As was argued in a 2007 MEMRI analysis, many of the jihadists and their supporters have come to view their struggle against the U.S. and the West as an economic war. More specifically, they have come to the conclusion that it is financial, rather than military, losses that will prompt the U.S. to change its policies in the Middle East and elsewhere. Consequently, they emphasize the importance of targeting U.S. interests around the world, and of directing their military jihad primarily at targets that affect the U.S. economy.In brief, the Islamic nutballs are ordering their followers to invest in gold and real estate. Larry Kudlow, of CNBC's Kudlow & Company spent Friday night telling his audience that gold going high is a bad thing for the US Economy, and Saturday morning I go online to find this post. Great. Now I know why gold inflation is bad. Moreover, I also question the Arab influence behind the mortgage crisis-- less American ownership of American land makes it all the easier for the caliphate to attempt takeover. (Note: I said "attempt".) And how much easier is it to buy up land when Ma and Pa America are busy trying to put gas in their cars and make their meager paychecks cover their rising food bills?
Speaking of Ma and Pa America, Sultan Knish over at Israpundit comments on another great OpEd by JPost writer Caroline Glick: Religious Zionism Holds the Future of Israel in its Hands:
A nation can’t exist for long cannot exist without both a national identity and a national structure. The latter has to come from the political and practical institutions of the state. The former has to come from a shared value and belief system. A state without a shared positive value system is on the way to extinction, as first world nations can amply demonstrate for us. A value system without a state leaves only victims and exiles.Want an example of a mannequin nation? Try assessing the average Obama supporter. The only two things they're sure of are: 1. Barack Obama has roughly the same demographic makeup (age, race, economic status) as Dave Chappelle and, 2. His wife is the height of fashion. This is enough for them to elect a racist, anti-Israel socialist who wants to negotiate with the most maniacal world leader since Hitler as President of the United States. Brilliant.
The collapse of the first world nations is occurring precisely because those value systems are being ruthlessly torn down, leaving hollowed out states that have the structure of a nation but no defense again attack or ability to rally morale. Like mannequins they have the appearance of states, but not the content. This is occurring across America, Europe and Israel.
If George Orwell were alive today, I don't know if he'd be crying in the corner or just staring blankly and remarking, "Told you so."
Has Obama said one word about his platform? Has he uttered one sentence about the policies he'd actually attempt to implement were he to be elected? No. Absolutely not. Why? Because Reality TV has seeped into politics? Yes. Absolutely true. Need the proof? Check out OBAMA’S NEW STRATEGY on Israpundit:
Obama and the conservative right are mutually trying to keep the debate about his candidacy on the existential level — is he the hope for America’s future or a Manchurian Candidate, a kind of sleeper agent sent to destroy our democracy? That debate, which pits Obamas rhetoric against the Rev. Wright's rantings, is a contest that could go on all day, and Obama would win it. It is simply a bridge too far to believe that Obama is that evil and that invidious.How does he get away with providing such a TOTAL LACK of solid information to the mainstream newsmedia? More importantly, how are so many Americans falling under Obama's spell when they are obviously nearly totally completely uninformed about his policies?
But the more the debate covers such fundamental questions, the more it ignores the details — details which could bring Obama down.
Quite simply, Obama would rather address his religious views and his optimism about America and his embrace of diversity than talk about his plans to raise taxes, let gasoline prices soar and socialize healthcare.
They're morons.
Seriously, their entire philosophy is, "Well, If Oprah likes him, he must be okay." Americans, especially those between the ages of 18 and 39, who constitute the majority of Obama supporters appearing in rally audiences, have been totally desensitized and sedated by the crack that is reality TV. They could care less about issues: They want the sex, the violence, the drama. Okay, so Barack isn't exactly a pimp daddy, but he has openly admitted to using illegal drugs (check out his autobiography) he's embroiled in religious controversy, and visually, he's a D.C. version of Dave Chappelle without the bloodshot eyes and munchies. If only the Jewish people could produce a D.C. version of Jon Stewart to run for office, we'd have it made with today's young voters-- and more of these kids are graduating college than ever before! So much for higher education; I suppose that's what happens when you staff the ivy halls with professors so hell-bent on the benefits of tenure that they literally tell students what sentences to highlight and recopy from their textbooks onto their final exams. We have produced a nation of robots: turn on the TV and watch "reality" take over the White House.
Aliyah is sounding better and better.
Labels: America, American elections, Economy, Obama
posted by Shoshana @ 8:11 PM
Israel, In: America, Out
Sunday, June 15, 2008
"Islamofascism: Saudi money buys a lot in Washington…." Investors Business Daily via Israpundit:
Islamofascism: Saudi money buys a lot in Washington, even an extension of a lease to an Islamic school that graduates terrorists and teaches its students it's OK to kill non-Muslims.Oh, the State Department, whose infamous wrangler is none other than Condi "No More Building Jewish Homes In Jerusalem" Rice. Nice.
A federal panel wants the Islamic Saudi Academy inside the Beltway shut down for promoting hate, something we've urged for years. But remarkably, this madrassa still has powerful backers — including the State Department.
Are Oil Prices Being Manipulated to Help Obama? Bill Levinson via Israpundit:
Noting that bad economic conditions, and especially a recession, work against the party that currently holds the White House, it is possible to at least speculate that hostile foreign governments and/or other entities are manipulating oil prices to help Barack Obama. This April, Obama said something about $4/gallon gasoline when the price was still well below $3.50. How did he know that the price was going to exceed $4.00 by summer?Supreme Court Decision in Boumediene v. Bush Ted Belman, Israpundit
This decision by a 5 to 4 majority "found that the constitutionally guaranteed right of habeas corpus review applies to persons held in Guantanamo and to persons designated as enemy combatants on that territory."I've been doing a lot of thinking lately. For the past four years, I've been an avid blogger on two self-established forums: first, ConservaJew which was more political in nature, and now with The Unified Body, a blog that has taken on more of a spiritual nature, but is politically informed nonetheless. The majority of my blogging involves copying and pasting articles from other blogs and news sources and then taking a step back to analyze the big picture.
I've got to say that, after four years, the big picture ain't looking too good. At least, not in some ways. For America, the big picture looks increasingly grim, much like a Jackson Pollock schmear done late in life. For Israel, the big picture is somewhere between a Picasso blue and a bright Chagall, still farecht but nevertheless willing to allow a lot of light in to balance out the situation. In more simpler terms, or for those not artistically inclined, let me put it this way:
America has a candidate named Hussein running for President.
Israel is claiming to hold negotiations with Syria but building Jewish homes in Jerusalem and the West Bank anyway.
Adonai spoke through the prophet Zechariah, promising that Jerusalem would become "a cup that will stagger the surrounding peoples." In a way, this is already happening. Ever since the American government made it a priority to force Israel to give away the land, America has gone downhill-- and fast. The economy stinks. There are no jobs, hundreds of thousands of mortgages are in foreclosure, and the cost of commodities and oil are rapidly rising. Our government has signed away much of our national sovereignty, though NAFTA and through the Security & Prosperity Partnership-- a document that promises to unite Canada, Mexico & the US into a political trade union much like the EU. We have an apathetic generation who, overall, knows nothing of patriotism and is willing to support the election of a candidate who is cheered on by the Arab world-- aka, people bent on our destruction. America is staggering thanks to a generation's worth of poor choices and unG-dly decision making that put a series of anti-Israel politicians into key positions of power in our government. And now, the country is paying the price.
Israel, however, despite ongoing diplomatic and militant attacks from all sides is thriving. The Israeli GDP grew 5.4% in the first quarter, exceeding economists' expectations and the shekel is at an 11 year high against the dollar. Despite the seeming chaos surrounding Olmert's continued corruption expose, Shas has announced it will support dissolution, which will pave the way for early elections. Israeli politicians are already prepared, working together to form a new coalition titled the "Pro Land of Israel Parties" whose platform is this: "...in one sentence, the Land of Israel for the People of Israel according to the Torah of Israel, along with involvement in matters of education, social welfare, etc.". And let's not forget that the IDF is strong, and strongly against a nuclear-armed Iran-- they already made their statement in Syria last September; I don't think they'd mind CC'ing Iran on that memo.
And let's boil it down to Jerusalem:
Barack Obama makes hearty declarations about a unified Jerusalem at the AIPAC conference, only to "flip-flop" less than 24 hours later in the wake of Arab criticism by stating on CNN, "Obviously it is going to be up to the parties to negotiate a range of these issues, and Jerusalem will be part of those negotiations."
Israel, however, has a series of politicians forming coalitions and political parties based on maintaining a unified Jerusalem and a unified Israel. Perhaps they learned their lesson from Gush Katif. Or, perhaps, this is the beginning of the judgement hour, where Jerusalem will be the measuring stick by which all the nations on earth-- including the Jewish people--will be tested by G-d.
In any case, I am only left to wonder and led to believe that when the time comes for me to begin my next blogging venture the topic at hand will most likely be aliyah. The America that was a safe resting place for the Jewish people will soon be no more. Perhaps now is the hour when we are all being called back home.
Labels: aliyah, America, Israel, Jerusalem, Obama, Olmert, Zionism
posted by Shoshana @ 12:07 PM
Freedom's Current Crisis (Or, Messianic Politics 101)
Sunday, March 16, 2008
I grew up with an intense desire to avoid political discussion at all costs. I was raised in a home that functioned on an intense undercurrent of conservative politics. However, certain things were not considered polite dinner table conversation. When I told a visiting professor, who happened to be a Communist non-practicing Jew, that our family did not discuss G-d, sex, or politics publicly, I had to scrape his jaw off the table. But, it was true. My grandfather ruled the larger roost and when it came to topics that could be perceived as divisive, we were quickly told to, "Cut it off." Outside of a few screaming memes from my mother, who anxiously shouted, "Liars! Anti-Semites!" at the occasional CNN reporter, or my father's random disparaging remarks about the Clintons, I was fairly unexposed to political dialogue. I preferred it that way. Politics were ugly and divisive, and besides, as a kid I was part of the disengaged non-electorate, anyway. I had better things to focus on-- like Torah, Judaism, and Israel.
I didn't truly begin to become aware of the tight-knit relationship between real life and politics until my first graduate seminar in the fall of 2002 when, in an introduction to film theory, my professor informed us that, "Everything is political." At first, I didn't believe him, but I came to see quite clearly that this was true: film theorists and academics in general would strive to attach political meaning to the most benign actions imaginable. Films about out of work actors doing summer stage became tomes rife with communist innuendo (at least, according to communist theorists). Suddenly, everything I encountered had a political platform. Everyone was trying to shove some ideology down my throat. And, nine times out of ten, that ideology ran completely against the moral foundation upon which I was raised.
My first year in graduate school was a nightmare. I couldn't make heads nor tails out of what my professors were trying to teach me. Fortunately, there was an "oddball" in my class, the avowed conservative libertarian among a bunch of unaffiliated liberals who had no problem speaking up and speaking sense into classroom discussions. I may not always have been able to follow him to the T, but thanks to his commentary, I could clearly see that the complex, nonsensical theories of my professors were based in dangerous ideological territory and, consequently, had far-reaching, disastrous implications. For that first year, I sat and listened-- a lot. I did what my grandfather had always taught us to do: I kept my eyes and ears open, and my mouth shut.
I still recall that night reality finally hit home. Walking up the steps to my apartment after class, it suddenly dawned on me: I'm not the one that's wrong-- they are. I realized that the moral foundation I was raised with was the right one. I also understood very clearly that, not only was I allowed to have my own opinion, I should be allowed to express it, openly and honestly. But, as I watched my conservative peer catch guff time and time again, I knew that if I wanted to complete my program successfully, it would be better for me to keep my opinions to myself. So, I did. I muddled along and became the only one in my class to graduate on time with honors.
When I arrived home, as exhausted as I was, I knew I had work to do. This time, I set my sights on studying everything I wasn't permitted to research as a student at a public university. I poured over books by conservatives, beginning with Slander by Ann Coulter, and working my way from there, first with media commentaries (authors like Bernard Goldberg) since that was my arena of study in school, and then expanding into government and history. Naturally, I gravitated towards political texts regarding Israel and the Jewish people-- books like The War Against the Jews and The Abandonment of the Jews that my mother had read in her Holocaust history course worked in naturally with books I had read for my thesis, like Hollywood: An Empire of their Own. Eventually, thanks to one of Coulter's references, I picked up Whittaker Chambers's Witness, which led me to John Loftus's The Secret War Against the Jews.
At the same time, I began to follow political news online, reading both mainstream sources as well as independent conservative blogs like Israpundit. Thanks to these blogs, I tuned into authors like Ken Timmerman (Preachers of Hate) and Ben Shapiro (Brainwashed). I also immersed myself in conservative talk radio, taking my summer off to listen to Laura Ingraham, Sean Hannity, and my personal favorite, WABC's Mark Levin. And, I made it a point to listen to Israeli talk radio via Arutz Sheva-- the conservative, religious-Zionist "renegade" station that broadcasted off the shores of the Promised Land.
In short, I became consumed with all I had sought to ignore in the world. In a matter of three months, I had read somewhere between 30 and 40 books and spent countless hours online or next to a radio. I studied what was going on in Israel and America, with a special focus on how the media portrayed conservatives, conservative issues, and everything related to Israel and the Jewish people. In doing so, it became very clear to me that the agenda marketed by the media was the same agenda shoved down my throat in graduate school: anti-Israel, anti-G-d, and anti-everything associated with Him. Comprehending this allowed me to understand one other thing very, very clearly: In possessing these attitudes, the media and the academy, the institutions I had believed I would devote my life's work to, were against me.
And that is when I got angry.
"If the world hates you, understand that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, the world would have loved its own. But, because you do not belong to the world, on the contrary, I have picked you out of the world therefore the world hates you. Remember what I told you, 'A slave is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted me, they will persecute you too; if they kept my word, they will keep yours too. But they will do all this to you on my account, because they don't know the One who sent me." (Yeshua, Yochanan 15:18-21)
I had always known Scripture to be true. But I had never experienced the hatred of this world, so until I did, I could not fully understand the Truth I had been given. I knew that the situation I was confronting-- this battle Ronald Reagan had so easily boiled down to the fight "between good and evil"-- was bigger than me, and had been going on longer than I had been around, longer than my parents or grandparents had been on this earth, for that matter. I wanted to go back down the line, to understand how we had arrived where we were at that point in time.
First, I went back to Chambers's book that detailed the infiltration and influence of communism on the American government in the 1930s. That, I knew, had resulted in the persecution of Jewish Americans in Hollywood, as well as a lack of American response to the Holocaust. Therefore, it was clear to see that communism was an anti-Israel ideology. The next step was to read Marx for myself, as well as to research the existence of Marxism in its various forms around the globe-- Cuba, Russia, China, all anti-Israel in nature. Cuba, in fact, was the first government to establish ties with Yasser Arafat and even open a "Palestinian Embassy" on their soil. Many of the communist terrorist organizations of the 60s and 70s had strong ties to the PFLP, the PLO, and the other muslim Arab terror organizations Israel fights today.
Learning this naturally led me to study the connection between Islam and Marx. Two years before it even started to become public via the blogosphere, I knew and understood that the relationship between communism and Islam went further back than Castro and Arafat, straight to Hitler and the Mufti. Hitler, it seems, wasn't so much about the promotion of the aryan race as he was about the destruction of the Jewish people, and he found an ally in a proponent of the oldest Israel-hating religion on the face of the earth: Islam. One night I found a Koran in an old book shop, and sat there copying verses about killing Jews onto scrap paper I found in my purse. I couldn't bear to buy the book and actually have it in my home, so I scrawled notes and proceeded to bury the text back on the shelf. My research was complete. I knew, then, for sure that the battle I was witnessing had been, and always would be about the existence of Israel.
In October of 2004, five months after I had graduated, I began writing down everything I had learned over the summer. I wanted the text to be brief and basic, but strong enough to substantiate the claims I was making. The original goal was to get down on paper everything I knew to be true for my own self, lest I forget all the wonderful knowledge I had just been given. In the end, however, I realized that my brief could be a great source for people like me-- the average, hard-working, middle class reader, who wanted to understand what was going on in the world, but who lacked the time to read 40 books and sit by a radio for six hours a day.
I completed the work in less than a month. After that, life changed. I entered the working world and set this particular work aside. A few weeks ago, I pulled it out and looked at it. Four years later, it was a dated, but not out-dated piece. So many things have happened since October of 2004. Bush was re-elected on a pro-Israel platform, only to turn around and force Israel to evict 9,000 citizens in the name of "peace." Ariel Sharon, the lion of the settlements, is now comatose while 75% of the residents of Gush Katif still wait for permanent housing.
A month after the eviction, Hurricane Katrina smacked into New Orleans and evangelical preachers proclaimed it a judgement of G-d. John Hagee formed Christians United for Israel, forcing liberals into hissyfits over neocon influence and the "power and control" of the "religious right". Condi Rice and the State Department have morphed into an anti-Israel cabal bent on the division of Jerusalem by the end of '08, something the Israeli government of Olmert and Livni are more than willing to do. Eight students from the ages of 16 to 28 studying Torah at the heart of religious Zionism in Jerusalem were murdered by a muslim terrorist. Now, the disenfranchised religious Zionists are ready to take justice into their own hands.
Jewish people from France are making aliyah in record numbers while conditions for Jews all over Europe continue to worsen. Jewish students at UC Berkeley and Temple University, among other schools, have been physically attacked and pro-Zionist students all over North America are facing growing anti-Israel, pro-muslim bias on campus. At the same time, the Christian Church is dividing into pro- and anti-Israel camps, with evangelicals touting Genesis 12:3 on one hand and various denominations divesting from Israel on the other. In the midst of it all, a growing number of gentile Christians are seeking to understand the history of their own faith and, in doing so, are acknowledging and embracing the fact that their Messiah is and their forefathers were all devout, practicing Jews.
Yes, many events have taken place since October, 2004. But the text of Freedom's Current Crisis still stands as a record of everything that led up to this point in time. Yeshua taught us, "My yoke is easy and my burden is light," and so it is, this truth of our history. What frustrated me so much about academia was that everything they taught as truth was, in reality, confusing, twisted, and non-sensical. Shortly after I returned home, I was given these verses from Proverbs 3:5-6: "Trust in Adonai with all your heart; do not rely on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him; then He will level your paths." The world likes us to believe that truth is a hard thing and knowledge is impossible to achieve. The world likes us to believe that you have to possess a great deal of accredited education and associated wealth to be able to understand how life really works. This is a lie. Truth is free. G-d is free. And you cannot put a dollar value on trust. Anyone can understand, know, and live the truth. They just have to want it badly enough.
I pray that the frustration I was driven to will not be what leads you to seek out the truth for yourself. And I pray that, in its own humble way, Freedom's Current Crisis will pay honor to G-d's promise: "The truth will set you free."
Labels: America, Christianity, Islam, Israel, Judaism, Judeo-Christianity, Marxism, politics, religion
posted by Shoshana @ 12:37 PM
America Sold Out... to allah, for Challah- er- Dough
Sunday, February 03, 2008
Back in December, the The JPost reported, "The Mossad claims that the Iranians will be able to develop a nuclear bomb by the end of 2009; Military Intelligence warns that Teheran will cross the technological threshold within six months; and now the Americans are putting the timeline toward the middle of the next decade, or 2013 at the earliest."
This week, Israpundit linked to an article at World Net Daily under the "HOMELAND INSECURITY" section, titled Islamist 'Trojan horse' in Pentagon, say experts FBI: Top defense advisers linked to radical Muslim Brotherhood
Hesham H. Islam, a special assistant to Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England, recently criticized Maj. Stephen Coughlin, one of the military's leading authorities on Islamic war doctrine, for making the connection between the religion of Islam and terrorism.Better still, Islam is best-buds with a fellow Muslim Brotherhood member who also happens to be a U.S. Navy Chaplain. Islam's boss, Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England, recently dedicated an Islamic prayer center at Quantico based on Islam's buddy's suggestion. Need more info? Check out this companion post at Israpundit.
After Islam lodged complaints, Coughlin's contract with the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the Pentagon was not renewed.
Israpundit also linked to a FrontPageMag article on Islam's relationship with corporate America, and what that might mean regarding the future of your investments. Along with the concern over the obvious implications of Muslims gaining controlling shares of stock in major American corporations (i.e.; forcible corporate giving to Islamic interests; running businesses according to Islamic principles), Jonathan Schanzer writes:
There is also a question of whether our new Middle Eastern partners seek the long-term success of the world financial system, upon which most Westerners rely to grow wealth and ensure a comfortable retirement. Indeed, Wahabbists – among which many Saudis and Emiratis can be counted – have little interest in the long-term viability of the U.S.-anchored world financial system. Wahabbists, in fact, seek to destroy the current world system and to return to the world to a time and place in which Islam reigns supreme. Buying out the U.S. stock market would be an easy way to destroy it from within.
Military and Economy. What's next, electing a guy with the middle name "Hussein" as President?
Labels: America, Economy, Islam, Military
posted by Shoshana @ 3:50 PM
Turning the Tide
Monday, January 14, 2008
I read posts like this one over at Israpundit that make pretty clear points about the way the world really works and I wonder how long it will be until this tick pops and the entire population is forced to face reality.
In the above-linked post, Ted Belman points out, "For that matter, one wonders why US is the chief sponsor of Fatah? Oh, we know that they also have Nazis roots. For that matter so does the CIA." Belman's far from the first to draw attention to the sad, but true fact that the United States government hasn't always fought on the side of truth and righteousness. Political conservatives, Christians (especially the Evangelical ones), members of the Greatest Generation, and even older Jewish Americans have a tendency to view America through rose-coloured glasses.
A few years ago, I attended a Pesach seder that was punctuated not with the classic "L'Shanah Haba B'Yerushalayim" toast, but with a chorus of "G-d Bless America" instigated by one elderly lady who said, "Jerusalem is lovely, but America is our home." I attended the seder with a few fellow Hillel members. At the time, we were establishing a watchdog group to monitor increasing levels of Muslim anti-Jewish and anti-Israelness on campus. The group was renegade at best, unable to even count on Jewish support after an explosive Parents' Weekend Hillel meeting at which more than one 50-something professional Jewish American declared, "I don't want my child involved in anything controversial on campus! They should just keep their mouths shut!" We kept our mouths shut, alright: we could conquer the hatred espoused by Muslim exchange students at on-campus events, but how could we respond to the American patriotism expressed by our Jewish elders?
Liking America isn't a bad thing. Using your appreciation of the nation as a whitewash to cover over the many faults and poor choices of American political officials can, however, be quite a dangerous thing. Especially when you're Jewish. How do you reckon your love for America with the actions taken by the American government (actions dating back to 1947 and before-- to FDR's Administration and their response to the Holocaust) to purposefully ensure the destruction of the people and the State of Israel?
The other night I was flipping the channels and came across a rebroadcast of The 700 Club. Pat Robertson's son, who apparently now hosts the show, was remarking on Bush's visit to Israel and his statements about "ending the occupation that began in 1967" by saying that he wasn't sure why the President was doing what he was doing, and saying what he was saying, but he hoped that Bush would rethink things, because his actions certainly didn't bode well for America, given the truth of the Biblical prophecies about Israel. His comments were benign, but they also carried with them a great deal of confusion. After all, how could the President of the Evangelicals go to the Holy Land and tell the Jewish people that they had to give up Jerusalem? It just doesn't make sense. And it certainly doesn't bode well for the pro-Israel Evangelicals, especially not the rapture-ready crowd.
What will be the event that tips the scales, that pops the tick, that forces people to wake up and face facts for what they truly are and not what they seem to be based on history, or politcal platforms, or sermons, or popular opinion? Or will it be like the days preceeding the last century's world wars, when current events forced chaos and panic to overrule logical thinking?
Labels: America, Bush, Evangelical Christians, Israel, Jewish, United States, Zionism
posted by Shoshana @ 7:15 PM
Big Brother is Full of It
Thursday, January 03, 2008
I love the way the American media (and international media, for that matter) create this world of thought that they expect the average public to just live within, without question or complaint.
For example, we all spent last Friday watching and listening to endless 24/7 coverage about Benazir Bhutto's asassination in Pakistan. What we didn't hear about was the murder of two off-duty IDF soldiers by a Palestian policeman and a Fatah terrorist. From Israel Matzav:
According to details of the murder of off-duty soldiers and nature enthusiasts David Rubin (21) and Ahikam Amihai (20), the gunmen, Ali Dandis, 24, and Amar Taha, 26, surrendered on the day of the attack to the Palestinian security forces in Hebron out of fear that they would be caught by the IDF. They also handed over the weapons they captured from the hikers.In the eyes of the American and international news mediums, these two innocent Israelis, murdered by muslim arab terrorists while they were taking a walk in the park, don't count. Not because they aren't members of the one sane, logical, functioning democracy in the Middle East, but because they don't wear headscarves, they didn't spend the last decade vacationing in the Arab world's version of Monte Carlo, and they weren't stupid enough to poke their unprotected heads through a sunroof to wave at a crowd of men raised to operate according to sharia law. They were just two young guys in the park. There's no news there-- after all, plenty of people get attacked in parks across the United States every day. Heck, I spent last week watching an entire day of news coverage about a kid who got mauled by a tiger in a park. Somehow, I bet he didn't get mauled because the tiger hated Jews and targeted them specifically because he believed Jews didn't deserve to live. Tell me, do they have anti-Israeli tigers? Have we explored this angle yet? Let's get Geraldo on it, right away.
Dandis worked as a clerk at the Sharia [Muslim religious. CiJ] courts in Hebron. Both are residents of the West Bank city, security officials said. They noted that Friday's attack was not the first time that Palestinian security officials or policemen were involved in terror attacks. Last month, Ido Zoldan was gunned down in the West Bank by Palestinian terrorists that turned out to be members of the PA security forces.
The PA did not report the surrendering of the terrorists, the Shin Bet said. After learning of their surrender, the security agency transferred a request to the PA asking that they transfer to Israel the murder weapons and the weapons of those who were murdered. In response to the demand, PA officials confirmed that the two had surrendered and were being interrogated. [In other words, had Israel not found out, the 'Palestinian Authority' would not have said anything. CiJ]
All of the weapons were transferred to Israel on Saturday.
Security officials said the attack was premeditated and its goal was to kill the hikers and steal their weapons. Security officials said that declarations in the media by Palestinian officials to the effect that the incident was of a criminal nature were in direct contradiction to the findings on the scene, as well as to the confessions of the terrorists themselves.
Today, Olmert confirmed to the Jerusalem Post that this is the year to divide Jerusalem. Happy 60th, Israel. The greatest birthday gift is knowing that your thousands of war heroes and victims of terror have died in vain. Mazel Tov:
Israel needs to internalize that even its supportive friends on the international stage conceive of the country's future on the basis of the 1967 borders and with Jerusalem divided, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has declared to The Jerusalem Post.Okay, yeah, enough of that.
...In an interview at the start of a year that he hopes will yield a permanent Israeli-Palestinian peace accord...
In response to President Bush's remarks regarding Jewish settlement expansion: He told Reuters that during his visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories he would talk about Israeli settlement expansion, "about how that is, that can be, you know, an impediment to success.", Tzvi Fishman of Am K'Lavee has created posters that read: Bush, Read Your Bible: G-d Gave Israel to the Jews to be used to greet the President upon his arrival to Israel next week. I think American Zionists should download the image and click "print" and send it off to the White House, Attn: Condi Rice. Then again, maybe we should just fax it to Arafat's tomb. I hear it's a favorite vacation spot for diplomatic spiders.
How many Americans who care about Israel--Jewish Americans, Christians, righteous gentiles--know or understand the fact that our national media doesn't report about Israel because they don't want you to consider the Jewish nation a facet of your existence? These media agencies (and, namely, the corporations and money mongers behind them who call the shots) don't want you to think about Israel because they don't want Israel to matter to you, because if it did, then you might just take a moment to speak up about the radical injustices being done to the nation of G-d by our very own government, academic institutions, and media organizations. What better way to keep people quiet than to keep them totally uninformed? Ignorance is bliss, right? Well, for who? Apparently not David Rubin and Ahikam Amihai, nor Gilad Shalit, nor Ehud Goldwasser, nor Eldad Regev, if you even remember them-- if you even know who they are.
"To whom much has been given, much will be required," as the Biblical saying goes. We were given the Torah. We are expected to know better and act accordingly. Yet, the majority of us still wander around in the darkness of our own making, accepting the world as it is set before us by our media, our professors, our teachers, our Rabbis, our pastors, our priests, our officials. We sit there and we accept what we are told to do, to say, to think. In the meantime, the nation of Israel is dying a slow, painful death, and very few people from the grand sects that claim to care are bothering to do a thing about it. This tells me one thing: Israel-lovers need to start thinking outside their carefully constructed box.
And they'd better do it quick.
Labels: Ahikam Amihai, America, Bush, David Rubin, IDF, Israel, Judaism, news media, Olmert, Zionism
posted by Shoshana @ 9:05 PM
Happy Day Off
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Stop wishing me a "Merry Christmas." I don't celebrate Christmas. I don't care about Christmas. I don't care that you celebrate and care about Christmas. There is a reason every Jew's favorite Christmas movie character is Scrooge.
I'm really sick of this anti-P.C. trend calling for bringing "Christmas" back into the vocabulary. It's like every Evangelical took the Bush win in '04 as a sign that they'd earned the right to speak about G-d in public, which of course meant that they needed to, first and foremost, re-instate the use of the word "Christmas". This political move was seconded, of course, by the ressurection of public nativity scenes. Yeah, way to go, die-hard Religious-Righters, for putting Christ back in the public square during the one time of year you can get Him for 20-50% off. Righteous.
Suddenly, the re-introduction of "Christmas" into popular vocabulary has given everyone from strangers to friends the right to wish me a "Merry Christmas." Even though they know I'm Jewish, people are wishing me a Merry Christmas left and right, like it's going out of style-- and, trust me, it is. One guy walked in to a book shop where I was the other day. My mother looked up and wished him a Happy Holiday, and the guy said: "Happy Holidays. Well, Merry Christmas. After all, that's not an illegal word now, is it? I work for the state and I've been saying Happy Holidays all day, when it's really Merry Christmas, right?"
Yeah, sure pal. Enjoy. Suddenly, I'm Larry David, staring at this huge pine tree in my living room and explaining to my in-laws that a tallis is really a scarf.
Israpundit, one of the largest right-wing, pro-Israel, Jewish blogs is a big proponent of the "Merry Christmas" business, and I understand it to a great degree. After all, there are a lot of gentile Christian supporters of Israel out there who feel the need to honor their Jewish Messiah by co-opting a pagan feast, eating unkosher foods, and putting sap-leaking bushes in their homes to remind them of the age when children used to be burned underneath the evergreen branches as a sacrifice to non-extant dieties. To them, I say good for you and don't forget that your holiday donations to your favorite pro-Israel charity are tax-deductable. But, please, if you feel like being nice to me at all during this holiday season, don't do it by lumping me in with that lot.
A lot of diaspora Jews celebrate Christmas by virtue of the fact that they live among gentile neighbors and, most likely, have experienced some level of intermarriage with the gentile world within their families. Many Messianic Jews celebrate Christmas because they feel the need to somehow honor Messiah's "birth" or, rather, His first arrival on this Earth, and they either have a relationship with a gentile Christian church or they just don't know how else to do it.
I, however, do none of these things. Faith is a process of aliyah, and the closer you grow towards G-d, the further away you get from the things He doesn't like. HaShem doesn't like Santa Claus, nor does He have a predeliction for celebrating a major event in the dead of winter. Nothing that is involved with the celebration of "Christmas" can be found in scripture, with the exception, of course, of the arrival of the Messiah prophesied about in numerous places in the Tanak (note: Isaiah 53), which most likely happened during the Feast of Sukkot, in accordance with HaShem's festivals, not the ones designated by some derranged pagan priest from some dead ancient culture.
Why would I want to worship my Messiah in a way that is not pleasing to Him? That's not how a relationship works. You don't wake up on your spouse's (or parent's or child's or loved one's) birthday and say, "Congratulations, we're celebrating your life today by doing exactly what I want to do." If you don't do that to them, why would you even think about doing such a thing to your Messiah? If your actions make absolutely no statement about who your Messiah is and how important He is to your life and to the life of your nation, how viable can they be-- how viable can you be to your people, your nation, and your G-d?
"Oh, wow, but what do you do on Christmas?" I can hear them say. You know what I do on Christmas? Nothing. I've eaten Chinese food, I've gone to movies, I've read, I've watched TV, I've done stuff most normal people do on a day off, because in America that's what it is-- a day off.
So, to all my fellow Jews, especially to the ultra-observant who don't even give a fig about January 1st, I wish you a Happy Day Off. And, to everyone else, have a great holiday, just keep me out of it.
Labels: America, Christian, Christmas, Jewish, Messianic Judaism
posted by Shoshana @ 6:01 PM
