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
And the Chaos Continues
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Israel can't decide who is boss. In the meantime, Obama has decided he's boss and he's ready to make everyone pay for it... to the thousandth generation.
Thanks to the Libs, the muslims think they're boss: The soon-to-be-announced release of the bombers of the U.S.S. Cole is the warning sign that America is about to enter the same socio-political place as Israel did after Oslo.
I wonder, when will Americans realize this? After the first bus bombing? After the first nightclub gets blown up? Or after Rahm Emanuel's "You Can't Beat 'Em, So Just Play Along" Civilian Defense Force gets up and running with your hard-earned Porkulus-spent dollars?
Some people choose to live in the moment and some people choose to look ahead.
Some people choose to live in cliques and some people choose to step back and see the big picture.
I look at the big picture, and I look ahead, and I think to myself: I can't be the only one who sees this.
At least Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity are willing to talk about the evils of socialism on TV. Until the Fair-less Doctrine comes into effect. Oh, but as Steve Doocy pointed out on Fox News "That only effects broadcast, and we're cable." May I remind Steve and the rest of the world, to paraphrase a great quote, "They came for the Conservatives, and I was fair and balanced, so I stayed silent. Then they came for the fair and balanced, and there was no one left to speak."
"Two legs good, four legs better." You keep going with that, world. Keep on marching. You'll need all four legs to get where you're going, because you're being herded there fast.
Labels: fairness doctrine, Israel, Obama, Oslo, politics
posted by Shoshana @ 9:22 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
