I've never done this before, but the outstanding discussion is worth sharing and preserving. Click on the comment thread to see what I mean....
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Wednesday, July 02, 2014
Great comment thread
I've never done this before, but the outstanding discussion is worth sharing and preserving. Click on the comment thread to see what I mean....
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Well done Tzahal
Lots of Israelis have taken to Facebook to call for genocide, the slaughter of children and the like. See the image below. Two quick thoughts:
a) At least these miscreants weren't holding up three fingers, amirite?
b) Kol hakovod l'tzhal for punishing the soldiers who participated. This is real hasbarah
No such revenge - revenge for the blood of a little child - has yet been devised by Satan
Netanyahu's statement on the Horrible Crime, with its line about Satan and vengeance for murdered children, directed me to this fine poem by Chaim Nachmun Bialik, written when Jews were weak, and held no political or military power. Times have changed. We're the over-dogs now, by the grace of God, and with that new status comes new and important responsibilities
On The Slaughter
Heaven, beg mercy for me! If there is
a God in you, a pathway through
you to this God - which I have not
discovered - then pray for me! For my
heart is dead, no longer is there prayer
on my lips; all strength is gone, and
hope is no more. Until when, how
much longer, until when?
You, executioner! Here's my neck - go
to it, slaughter me! Behead me like a
dog, yours is the almighty arm and the
axe, and the whole earth is my scaffold
- and we, we are the few! My blood is
fair game - strike the skull, and
murder's blood, the blood of nurslings
and old men, will spurt onto your
clothes and will never, never be wiped
off.
And if there is justice - let it show
itself at once! But if justice show itself
after I have been blotted out from
beneath the skies - let its throne be
hurled down forever! Let heaven rot
with eternal evil! And you, the arrogant,
go in this violence of yours, live by
your bloodshed and be cleansed by it.
And cursed be the man who says:
Avenge! No such revenge - revenge for
the blood of a little child - has yet been
devised by Satan. Let the blood pierce
through the abyss! Let the blood seep
down into the depths of darkness, and
eat away there, in the dark, and breach
all the rotting foundations of the earth.
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Them
A guest post by Y. Bloch
Marwan Kawasmeh (sometimes spelled Qawasmeh) and Amar Abu-Isa, Hamas members, from Hebron.
Learn those names. They're the prime suspects in the brutal murders of three Israeli teens, who were finally discovered and buried yesterday.
Learn those names, because in all the posts and comments and articles, I hardly ever see them. I see Barack Obama. I see Mahmoud Abbas. I see Gaza (even though Hebron's on the West Bank). I see, most of all, them--"their entire society." "We must wipe them out." "We must destroy them." A lot of anger and frustration, but hardly ever directed at the murderers. Why is that?
I have to ask: do we want Kawasmeh and Abu-Isa found and brought to justice? Or do we want to keep raging against the other "them"?
You know what, don't tell me. I'm having enough trouble sleeping as it is.
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Tuesday, July 01, 2014
Genocide
Last night Facebook seemed to be over run with Jews who think it's OK to call for genocide and mass reprisals. There also were lots who think Obama somehow messed up from 5000 miles away (yet these same people give Obama no credit for saving the embassy workers). Very odd.
But after I posted the observation repeated above, I was treated to several some surprising and unexpected shows of support plus over a dozen new friends and followers and more than 100 likes on the original post. So I feel vindicated and renewed in my faith that most all Jews, like most all people, are sensible and decent. Thanks guys.
Other
I also think its morally obtuse to hate Palestinians for "wanting us dead" right before you post about how you want to kill them all.
My favorite was the fellow who insisted that its "politically correct" to oppose genocide instead of, you know, plain and ordinary correct.
I don't understand why calls for revenge are proof the Palestinians aren't redeemable, but perfectly excusable when Jews make them. If one set of people are entitled to speak visecerally and are given passes when they are in a highly emotional state, the same courtesy ought to be extended to others.
But after I posted the observation repeated above, I was treated to several some surprising and unexpected shows of support plus over a dozen new friends and followers and more than 100 likes on the original post. So I feel vindicated and renewed in my faith that most all Jews, like most all people, are sensible and decent. Thanks guys.
Other
I also think its morally obtuse to hate Palestinians for "wanting us dead" right before you post about how you want to kill them all.
My favorite was the fellow who insisted that its "politically correct" to oppose genocide instead of, you know, plain and ordinary correct.
I don't understand why calls for revenge are proof the Palestinians aren't redeemable, but perfectly excusable when Jews make them. If one set of people are entitled to speak visecerally and are given passes when they are in a highly emotional state, the same courtesy ought to be extended to others.
Every time I hear a speech about how the Palestinian culture is corrupt and poisoned and needs to be wiped out, I say to myself, "Odds are there is a Palestinian who makes exactly the same sort of heartfelt and angry pronouncement whenever an Arab child is killed." And by the way, I know the difference between targeting and protecting and I am not making any sort of equivalency between kids with bomb vests and kids on school buses (and how tedious that I have to say this!) But not all of the 1500 Palestinian children who have been killed since 2000 are terrorists. Some were playing in their backyards. Others were walking to school. And anyway a dead kid is going to make people say things. If you're raging now and saying crazy things, you know what I mean.
I am not attacking anyone who is mourning. In fact I am not attacking anyone at all. I am simply responding to calls for genocide, in a manner I think is rather mild considering the topic is genocide. I recognize that some of that is coming from perfectly sane people who are grieving. But not all of it is, and I can't tell the difference.
I am not attacking anyone who is mourning. In fact I am not attacking anyone at all. I am simply responding to calls for genocide, in a manner I think is rather mild considering the topic is genocide. I recognize that some of that is coming from perfectly sane people who are grieving. But not all of it is, and I can't tell the difference.
Monday, June 30, 2014
The Torah true response to evidence
What follows will illustrate the difference between regular people and torah true people.
Claim: the moon is made from green cheese.
Counter - evidence: astronauts return from the moon with rocks
Regular person: Well what do you know. I guess the moon is made from rocks.
Claim: the moon is made from green cheese.
Counter - evidence: astronauts return from the moon with rocks
Torah true person #1: obviously the astronaut is lying. All he wants to do is destroy our emunah to justify his own love for pork and loose women
TT #2: When we said the moon was made from cheese we meant the other moons not this one
TT #3: The moon used to be made from cheese but the teva changed and now it isn't
TT #4: the moon is both cheese and rock in a spiritual way that none of us are holy enough to understand
TT #5: when we said the moon was made from cheese we were speaking allegoricall
TT#6: Tomorrow the scientists will just change their minds again and tell us the moon is made from cheese
SUGGESTIONS FROM OTHER PEOPLE
TT#8 To understand why the rocks are not a problem, you will first need to understand neo platonian metaphysics, aristotelian meta linguistics, maharal, moreh nevuchim, ralbag, rashbag, ben bag bag, Kant, Heidigger, Schilling, and Plantinga. But of course you're just an intellectually lightweight blogger, influenced by the current zeitgeist, with no deep understanding of anything, only interested in scoring cheap shots and preaching to your echo chamber, so I'm not going to waste my time explaining it to you.
TT#9: The rocks were put there on purpose at time of creation to fool the scientists/to test who's emuna is real.
TT#9 People died going to the gas chambers singing ani maamin that the moon is made of green cheese, how could you question that?
TT#10 My father told me its made of green cheese, and his father told him, all the way back to the original green cheese revelation. Are you calling my father a liar?
TT#11: GCM (Green Cheese Moon) has sustained our people for 3000 years (insert Mark Twain quote here). Those who questioned GCM are now consigned to the dustbin of history. They have no past, no future and no present. In fact, if it wasnt for me constantly reminding you of how bad the GCM deniers are, you wouldn't even know about them.
TT#12: Maicheesidies has paskened that GCM is a required belief. There's nothing to debate.
TT#13: If Chazal said GCM is true, then thats more real than anything else, even astronauts with rocks. Chazal create reality, its emes veyatziv.
TT#14: True, its a kashyeh. But no one ever died from a kashyeh. When Eliyahu Hanavi comes he will provide the tirutz
TT#15: Its pure gaavoh to think you can answer such questions, or even ask such questions. We know Chazal were 100% right.
Don't forget those who simply compartmentalize: "I believe religiously that the moon is made of cheese, but that has no bearing on my secular understanding that it is made of rock"
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Thursday, June 26, 2014
MKs Pray
I see, some MKs went into the Knesset chapel and said tehillim for the missing boys. Kol Hakovod. plus nice one, MKs!
Unfortunately, certain parties won't let it stop there.
For example, we're told by Cross Currents that this is "not your mother's knesset" because some MKs prayed --and with a mechitza!! Only, please tell us who BUILT the chapel, mechitzah included, in the first place? Oh right. The members of our "mother's knesset".
Next we have various parties who think its just awful the UTJ didn't participate, when in fact a handful of their members did show up. Anyway, does it really matter that the UTJ MKs missed a photo op? Why?
We also find ourselves wondering if the ARAB MKs participated? (and why doesn't anyone boasting about how the "whole Knesset said Tehillim" care to remember that the whole knesset includes Arabs?) Their absence - if indeed they were absent - bothers me more than the missing UTJ members.
Finally, let's all complain about the incredibly thoughtless way the chapel was built. Really? Men in front women in the back? Men with plenty of room, and women crowded together in a tenth of the space? Not cool, guys. And not the way to win friends and influence people either.
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Knowing the mind of God
Is God using the kidnapping to send us a message?
Well, maybe, but the problem with this approach is "the message" we discover God is sending always ends up confirming our pre existing biases and supporting whatever changes we already thought the world required. A total coincidence I am sure but for me that recurring coincidence renders the whole exercise invalid. (For instance, will anyone allow that the kidnapping might be God's way of telling us to get out of the West Bank? Could it be a mida kneged mida for how we've treated Arabs? No, of course no one will suggest those messages are what God has in mind but as messages aren't they just as viable as any other message our subjective, imperfect, self interested minds might dream up?)
Moreover, what good is a message when it doesn't come with a decoder that makes the message comprehensible? Why would God make three boys suffer for the purpose of sending us a message when realistically there is no way for his subjective, imperfect. self interested humans to figure out what it is?
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Moreover, what good is a message when it doesn't come with a decoder that makes the message comprehensible? Why would God make three boys suffer for the purpose of sending us a message when realistically there is no way for his subjective, imperfect. self interested humans to figure out what it is?
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Wednesday, June 25, 2014
The Answer to YU's Money Problems
A writer at the Yeshiva World thinks YU should solve its financial problems by shlepping down to Lakewood for instruction on shnurring from synagogues.
This is a match made in heaven, I think. Lakewood is great at setting up financial scams and YU is great at falling for them. What could go wrong??
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Make God Dance by Baking Challah
It's always amusing and interesting to see how customs shift and develop over time. A new example is the fetish many are making over "challah baking" and the belief that the act of kneading some dough and putting it in the oven can win divine mercy and cause the creator of the universe to drop everything and act on your behalf. (See the shared link below)
The origins of the custom are as follows:
1: Yechezkel announces that giving gifts to the priests causes a blessing to rest on your house. (Total Unrelated Coincidence: Yechezkel was a priest!!) See Ezek: 44:30
(By the way, in this context: "Challah" is one of the gifts a priest gets (the first of the dough.))
2: The Mishna warns that women will die in childbirth if they don't take Challah (by which we mean, giving the priest his gift from the dough.)
3: The Gemarah says that lots of bad things will happen to you if you neglect to deliver challah to the priest. See Shabbat 32:B
** TAKE AWAY POINTS FROM THE ABOVE**
The origins of the custom are as follows:
1: Yechezkel announces that giving gifts to the priests causes a blessing to rest on your house. (Total Unrelated Coincidence: Yechezkel was a priest!!) See Ezek: 44:30
(By the way, in this context: "Challah" is one of the gifts a priest gets (the first of the dough.))
2: The Mishna warns that women will die in childbirth if they don't take Challah (by which we mean, giving the priest his gift from the dough.)
3: The Gemarah says that lots of bad things will happen to you if you neglect to deliver challah to the priest. See Shabbat 32:B
** TAKE AWAY POINTS FROM THE ABOVE**
- Though Ezekiel promises a blessing, he does not disclose the nature of the blessing. He just says it will "rest on the house"
- The rule about giving the priest a gift of dough can be carried out by anyone. It does not have to be a women. And, presumably, if a man does it the blessing is delivered all the same.
- Bad things happen to you irrespective of who (man or woman) fails to deliver the dough to the priest
- All people get their sins examined when they are in danger. Women are in danger when they are in childbirth, hence their sins are examined at that time.
SUM UP: None of this has anything to do with BAKING Challah or women per se, or groups of women gathering to bake challah. The point is the gift of dough (which can be dough used for any type of bread) and getting it delivered to a kohen by either a man OR a woman.
However, somehow (and you can probably connect the dots yourself) this old idea that bringing dough to the priest invites blessing has morphed into this new idea that baking challah compels God to do what you want.
And of course, there is probably no way, at this late date, to stamp it out.
However, somehow (and you can probably connect the dots yourself) this old idea that bringing dough to the priest invites blessing has morphed into this new idea that baking challah compels God to do what you want.
And of course, there is probably no way, at this late date, to stamp it out.
---------------
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Tuesday, June 24, 2014
Great moments in AH (*the* reason for the kidnapping)
Great moments in ass hattery
"We'll maybe there is a connection between the 16 annual gay parade in tel aviv and the two 16 year old boys kidnapped. It could lead to the destruction of israel when Jews spit on the torah by making a rebellion such as this filthy parade."I can sort of forgive the author of this snippet for believing that God shares his own personal prejudices. After all, every single one of us projects our own likes and dislikes on to God. We're all trapped in the fantasy that God understands the world in precisely the same way that we do. Our enemies are always His enemies. What offends us offends Him. And so on.
What I can't forgive is the snippet's characterization of God as a petty jerk who has a fascination with numbers and secret codes. God doesn't make a random 16 year old suffer because He's been made crazy thanks to some kind of psychological trauma caused by the 16th pride parade. God is not a villain in a batman comic book... Unless...
Hmm. Maybe he really IS a petty jerk and in the second paragraph I am guilty of the sin I decried in the first paragraph?
Great comment:Ortho Diction Watch out next year, 17 year olds.
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Monday, June 23, 2014
More on the 3 finger salute
Well, clearly the three finger salute is real now. Thanks guys. Making a whole big thing out of what was originally a harmless show of support for a reality show contestant was not helpful.
Quick Checklist:
- Does this show that some Palestinians support the kidnapping? YES
- Is this a travesty and an abomination? YES
- Is it lamentable? YES
BUT
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- Does it tell me anything about the Palestinian "mentality"? NO. It only tells me something about the mentality of those who are doing it.
[Candy for the first person to say this is "justifying" the Palestinian response]
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Great Moments in Marketing!! - Adopt a Kolel
Great Moments in Marketing!!
Hey, everyone, please help the well-fed guy who refuses to leave his kolel shtender while his own kid lays starving at his feet.
Hey, everyone, please help the well-fed guy who refuses to leave his kolel shtender while his own kid lays starving at his feet.
Last Friday's questions about the candle lighting idea
Received by email:
The mothers of the three kidnapped boys went to Rav Dovid Abuchatzira. He said if 3 million candles are lit for them there will be good news. The mothers ask all to light 2 extra candles this weekSorry for being a thinker, not a feeler, but I have to ask:
- Why 3 million?
- What's magic or significant about candle lighting as opposed to any other mitzvah?
- Did he take any money in exchange for this advice? (Probably not... This is a great advert for him and if it works he's golden)
- What is his torah source for claiming lots of candle lighting will produce "good news"?
- How many people light candles on a typical Friday? Is 3 million realistic?
- If we, chas vsholom, don't hear good news will the rabbi shrug and say sorry guys. I told you to light 3 million candles and you didn't.
- What is "good news?" Seems a little open ended. Will he claim success if say Netanyahu steps up the search? That can be construed as "good news."
Now I hurry to point out that I am not attempting to destroy faith, or undermine religious authority, or damage whatever unity might have formed around this suggestion. The only thing I am attempting to attack or undermine is the idea that Abuchatzira is a legitimate source of information about how to win God's mercy. He isn't. He's just a guy who tells lies for money, and because the people who fall for his lies are usually poor and in pain, he's someone who should be shouted down at every opportunity.
In the merit of these questions and my attempt to expose a probable charlatan who has gotten rich peddling bogus cures and false hopes may the boys be found very soon.
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Thursday, June 19, 2014
"If Israelis kidnapped three Arabs it would be all over the news!!"
Lots of you are saying "If Israelis kidnapped three Arabs it would be all over the news!!"
To which I reply, "Ok, please identify Nadeem Nawara and Mohammad Salameh"
--
(The answer: They are Hebron residents, ages 17 and 16, who were shot and killed by Israeli soldiers as they walked home from school a few weeks ago.
Security camera footage shows the killed boys harmlessly walking down the street, and the autopsy confirmed live rounds were used in violation of IDF rules. see the shooting here:
http://www.newsy.com/videos/footage-backs-claim-palestinian-teens-were-unlawfully-shot/#ooid=Q3aHR5bTqR6teLXhFaqElSLL_-7p3Whd
First guy to wrongly accuse me of condoning the kidnapping or to scream "Pallywood" wins a candy.
Simply waving your arms and screaming "Pallywood" doesn't convince normal people. You need to supply something in the way of evidence (and if that evidence turns up, of course I will adjust my view in light of new information, but not before)
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Wednesday, June 18, 2014
The three fingered salute
 |
| These are Arab Idol fans showing support for Mohammed Assaf, a contestant, in June of 2013 |
Remind me to never trust a hasbarah blogger again.
It turns out that what I thought was an obscene three-finger pro-kidnapper salute is really nothing of the sort. Most of the pictures being touted as evidence of Arab callousness are more than a year old and were created to support a reality show contestant. So please unlearn all the lessons those photos of cute girls holding up three fingers mistakenly taught you about the Arab mentality.
See here http://m.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-23012803
But I do have a confession to make. In Hebron, more than 100,000 people are frozen in place. They are being subjected to extra-judicial searches, detentions, and worse. If 100,000 Jews were being treated that way, I might be tempted to do something obscene myself.
Warning: Do not interpret this confession as a statement of support for the terrorists or as a condemnation of the search. It was nothing of the sort. I believe that the search should continue and that the Hebron operation should go on without much too modification. Just be alert to the unintended consequences and the shared humanity, that's all.
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See here http://m.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-23012803
Now, you'll note I said **Most** of the pictures being touted as evidence of Arab callousness are more than a year old and were created to support a reality show contestant.
Here's the thing: After the Palestinian and Israeli media picked up on the old pictures and wrongly identified them as part of a pro-kidnapper social media campaign, some new pictures were created by people who actually are communicating support for the kidnapping. Those people are behaving obscenely.
Warning: Do not interpret this confession as a statement of support for the terrorists or as a condemnation of the search. It was nothing of the sort. I believe that the search should continue and that the Hebron operation should go on without much too modification. Just be alert to the unintended consequences and the shared humanity, that's all.
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Tuesday, June 17, 2014
Avi reminds me of Dwight Shrute
Too precious!!! Avi Safran thinks we owe ad hoc Jewish "leaders" the same deference and respect afforded to Raban Gamliel who both led a correctly constituted Sanhedrin and held an office invested with temporal powers.
To clinch his case, Avi cites Rosh Hashana 25a where we learn that all the leading Rabbis once agreed to respect one of Rabban Gamliel's ruling though they all knew he was wrong. The only problem is this: Raban Gamliel's high-handed behavior during that episode cost him the respect of his peers who forced him to resign.
So Avi errs not only in the equivalency he creates between Rabban Gamliel and the Rabbis of our day who hold no national office, and in many cases have inherited their stature or married into it. He also forgets that Rabban Gamliel was rejected specifically for demonstrating the sort of peremptory behavior he thinks we're obligated to obey.
http://www.cross-currents.com/archives/2014/06/17/a-for-now-final-post-about-jewish-authority/
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