Yehuda Lave is an author, journalist, psychologist, rabbi, spiritual teacher, and coach, with degrees in business, psychology and Jewish Law. He works with people from all walks of life and helps them in their search for greater happiness, meaning, business advice on saving money, and spiritual engagement. Now also a Blogger on the Times of Israel. Look for my column
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How to bring the Mosiach Now!
How to bring the Moshiach now --unconditional love-Shabbat Nachamu
Nachamu Nachamu Ami! After Tisha A'Bov the Shabbat all over
the Jewish world, we read these words. Be comforted and be consoled by my nation. How can we be comforted and how can we be consoled? Only yesterday we were sitting on the floor crying over the destruction of the Beit Hamikdash. How can we now be comforted and rejoice?
The story is told about a small community, which was slowly falling apart. A few old men would come to shul every Shabbat and barely
maintained a minyan. They decided to seek advice from a great Rabbi. The Rabbi sat with the group of old men and listened to all their sorrows.
He cried with them and felt their pain. The old men asked him for advice and he just sat silently. Finally, he bid them farewell. The begged for any advice. He apologized and said – "I don't have any advice for you, I can only tell you that the Mashiach is one of you." And he left.
The old men were about to despair after the Rabbi left- he was their final straw. At first, they all thought the Rabbi was crazy. How could the Mashiach be one of them? Then a miracle happened, each person began to look at the friends and everyone around them as potential Mashiach and they began to treat each other with a newfound respect. Each person, also started to look at themselves differently. Quickly, the town transformed. People from all over the world heard about this special town and the love that existed amongst them and quickly the place took on a newfound vibrancy that everyone wanted to be a part of.
As we sat on the floor, waiting and hoping for Mashiach, we sometimes give up hope. Especially this year, as we are practicing social distancing and sitting even more alone. We can truly despair and give up hope. It seems like the whole town and even the world is falling apart more than a little bit.
The first parsha we read after Tisha Bav is about Moshe Rabeinu begging to enter the land of Israel. After the three weeks of mourning we are not giving up - we keep on hoping and waiting to return to the land. How do we do this? By realizing that we are not alone. We are all in this together. The Mashiach is amongst us. If we truly believe that everyone around us has the potential to be Mashiach we will truly merit in seeing him soon.
Nachamu Nachamu – Ami. When we truly realize how amazing all parts of the nation are, we can truly be comforted. When we are in Isolation we can truly see and appreciate the beauty of what we are missing and how much greater it will be once we can all get together again.
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Aunt Sarah David and Rachel Epstein's once happy married life was on the rocks because of the presence in the household of old Aunt Sarah.
For seventeen long years she lived with them, always crotchety, always demanding.
Eventually, old Aunt Sarah passed away.
On the way back from the cemetery, David confessed to Sarah, "Honey, if I didn't love you so much, I don't think I would have put up with having your Aunt Sarah in the house all those years."
Rachel looked at David aghast.
"My Aunt Sarah!" she cried. "I thought she was 'your' Aunt Sarah!"
The Zionism Of Winston Churchill By Saul Jay Singer
fter conquering the Ottoman Turks in Eretz Yisrael , Britain was awarded the Mandate for Palestine by the League of Nations. Pursuant to that award, it appointed Herbert Samuel (1870-1963) as the first High Commissioner of Palestine (1920-25), making him the first Jew to rule the Land of Israel in 2,000 years.
In that capacity, he extended an invitation to Winston Churchill (1874-1965), then the United Kingdom's Colonial Secretary, to visit Eretz Yisrael to see the land and discuss developing problems there, particularly the Arab desire to deport all Jews.
"Order of Celebration" for welcoming Churchill to Eretz Yisrael. Advertisement
Exhibited here is the "Order of Celebration" issued by the Education Department of the Zionist Commission to Palestine for the Tuesday, 19 Adar II (March 29), 1921 reception for Churchill. It provides detailed instructions for schoolchildren and their teachers to follow, including dressing in holiday clothes and carrying school banners to the field of assembly, and the program, which included the singing of Techezakna , Hatikvah , and the British national anthem sung by the Blind Education Choir.
During his (only) visit to Eretz Yisrael , Churchill also participated in a palm tree-planting ceremony at the new Hebrew University in Jerusalem at which Chief Rabbis Avraham Isaac Hacohen Kook and Yaakov Meir presented him with a Torah scroll. Exhibited here is a Yaakov Ben-Dov photograph (note his ink-stamp, "Y. Ben-Dov Bezalel-Yerushalayim" on the margin of the card) in which Churchill stands next to High Commissioner Samuel; in the background is the tree Churchill planted at Hebrew University. Speaking on that occasion, he stated:
Original photo of Churchill at Hebrew University. Personally, my heart is full of sympathy for Zionism. This sympathy has existed for a long time, since 12 years ago, when I was in contact with the Manchester Jews. I believe that the establishment of a Jewish national home in Palestine will be a blessing to the whole world, a blessing to the Jewish race scattered all around the world, and a blessing to Great Britain. I firmly believe that it will be a blessing also to the inhabitants of this country without distinction of race and religion.
Churchill, who saw the dark side of extremism within Islam and was already distrustful of Arab nationalism, could not help but contrast the overwhelming love extended to him by Jewish throngs everywhere he went with the hostility with which he was received by the Arabs, who held violent demonstrations against the British Mandate and screamed calls to murder Jews.
En route to Lydda after leaving Jerusalem, Churchill visited Tel Aviv and was most impressed by what he observed. He also visited the city of Rishon LeZion, about which he later effusively wrote:
From the most inhospitable soil, surrounded on every side by barrenness and the most miserable form of cultivation, I was driven into a fertile and thriving country estate where the scanty soil gave place to good crops and cultivation, and then vineyards and finally to the most beautiful, luxurious orange groves, all created in 20 or 30 years by the exertions of the Jewish community who live there…
I defy anybody, after seeing work of this kind, achieved by so much labor, effort and skill, to say that the British Government, having taken up the position it has, could cast it all aside and leave it to be rudely and brutally overturned by the incursion of a fanatical attack by the Arab population from outside.
As Colonial Secretary (1921-22), Churchill was responsible for determining the future status of the Jewish national home in Eretz Yisrael , and after inspecting the agrarian, technological, and urban successes of the Zionist enterprise throughout the land during his visit there, he became convinced that the establishment of a Jewish state had great value not only to Britain, but to civilization in general.
In a historic rejoinder to Musa Kazim el Husseini, the former mayor of Jerusalem, a relative of the Jew-hating Mufti Haj-Amin el-Husseini, and a prominent Arab leader, Churchill wrote:
You have asked me in the first place to repudiate the Balfour Declaration and to veto immigration of Jews into Palestine. It is not in my power to do so, nor, if it were in my power, would it be my wish. The British Government have passed their word, by the mouth of Mr. Balfour, that they will view with favor the establishment of a National Home for Jews in Palestine, and that inevitably involves the immigration of Jews into the country…. Moreover, it is manifestly right that the Jews, who are scattered all over the world, should have a national center and a National Home where some of them may be reunited. And where else could that be but in this land of Palestine, with which for more than 3,000 years they have been intimately and profoundly associated? We think it will be good for the world, good for the Jews and good for the British Empire…
The British Government have promised that what is called the Zionist movement shall have a fair chance in this country, and the British Government will do what is necessary to secure that fair chance…. You can see with your own eyes in many parts of this country the work which has already been done by Jewish colonies; how sandy wastes have been reclaimed and thriving farms and orangeries planted in their stead…
In his 1921 "Report on the Middle East Conference," Churchill predicted that if the Jews continue their work in building a Jewish state, Eretz Yisrael would become the biblical "promised land, a land flowing with milk and honey, in which sufferers of all races and religions will find a rest from their sufferings."
Many British parliamentarians, objecting to Churchill's strong Zionist positions, endeavored to rescind the Balfour Declaration. In 1922, some two-thirds of the House of Lords voted for rescission, declaring that a Jewish homeland was unacceptable "to the sentiments and wishes of the great majority of the people of Palestine."
In a speech before the House of Commons on July 4, 1922, which many critics characterize as one of the celebrated orator's greatest speeches, Churchill passionately argued the Zionist cause, concluding, "If, over the portals of the new Jerusalem, you are going to inscribe the legend, 'No Israelite need apply,' then I hope the House will permit me to confine my attention exclusively to Irish matters."
Photograph – signed by both leaders (signatures are light) – of his June 3, 1961 meeting with Ben-Gurion at Churchill's Hyde Park Gate home. Due to Churchill's efforts, the House of Commons voted overwhelmingly, by a vote of 292-35, to set aside the decision of the House of Lords and to continue British policy as per the Balfour declaration.
Characterizing Zionism as "an inspiring movement" and describing himself as "an old Zionist," Churchill expended efforts on behalf of Jews and Israel that were exceptional, sincere, and persistent, leaving behind a long record of activism for Jewish causes.
As early as 1904, he promoted the establishment of a Jewish homeland in Eretz Yisrael as the only solution to Russian pogroms against Jews. Running for a seat from Manchester North West, which had a large Jewish immigrant population, Churchill became intimately familiar with Jewish interests and formed a strong bond with British Jews.
He attacked his government for its Aliens Bill, which sought to severely limit Jewish immigration from Eastern Europe, and he was later a lone voice taking on virtually his entire government in opposing Britain's infamous White Paper (1939) – he called it "a plain breach of a solemn obligation" – which greatly reduced the number of Jews permitted to immigrate to Eretz Yisrael .
As prime minister of England during World War II, Churchill battled anti-Zionist British officials and frequently intervened to ease the escape of Jewish refugees from Europe and to allow those reaching Eretz Yisrael to remain there. Among other things, he instructed Royal Navy vessels not to intercept ships suspected of bringing in illegal Jewish immigrants (1939-40); successfully pressured the Franco regime to reopen its border to Jewish refugees fleeing the Reich (April 1943); and indefatigably fought hostility within the British military establishment to create the Jewish Brigade (1944).
He actively urged FDR to support the creation of a Jewish state in Eretz Yisrael , reminding him, "I am strongly wedded to the Zionist policy, of which I was one of the authors." When he learned that Jews arriving from Hungary were being gassed at Auschwitz, he immediately put into place plans to bomb the railway from Hungary.
(Why he did not extend that strategy to bombing the rail tracks at Auschwitz remains unclear, but historians argue they may have been out of range for British bombers – although they weren't out of range for American bombers.)
After the war, Churchill sought to arm Jews in Eretz Yisrael against the Arabs, and he worked hard to fashion a postwar regional settlement that would include a Zionist state, which he was prepared to impose on the Palestinian Arabs by force, if necessary. Even after the bombing of the King David Hotel on July 22, 1946, which he unambiguously condemned, he argued that British promises had generated great optimism amongst the Jews of Eretz Yisrael and that the government's betrayal had understandably caused great resentment.
His faith in the future of a Zionist state bordered on the messianic, as he declared "Jerusalem must be the [Jews'] only ultimate goal…. That it will someday be achieved is one of the few certainties of the future."
After Israel's War of Independence, Churchill pronounced the Jewish state a great event in world history and sought to push the British government to adopt a more pro-Israel foreign policy. Characterizing Jews as "the sons of the prophets dwelling in Zion," he considered the establishment of Israel as "one of the most hopeful and encouraging adventures of the 20th century."
When the British government initially refused to recognize Israel, Churchill bitterly criticized it in a speech to the House of Commons in which he maintained that "the coming into being of a Jewish State in Palestine is an event in world history to be viewed in the perspective not of a generation or a century, but in the perspective of a thousand, two thousand or even three thousand years."
He severely excoriated the Atlee government and, particularly, Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin – whom he unabashedly and publicly called an "anti-Semite" – for refusing to accord the nascent nation prompt recognition.
In 1950, Churchill, upon becoming British prime minister for a second time, received a warm congratulatory message from his old friend Chaim Weizmann, now president of Israel, whom he described as "like an Old Testament prophet." In his response, Churchill wrote: "The wonderful exertions which Israel is making in these times of difficulty are cheering to an old Zionist like me."
Notwithstanding this remarkable and extensive record of Zionist support, some commentators – based primarily upon allegations that Churchill wrote some anti-Semitic articles (although the weight of evidence suggests he did not actually write them) – argue that Churchill was an anti-Semite.
Churchill's attitude toward Jews may perhaps best be summarized by this quote from a 1920 article, which he unquestionably wrote: "Some people like Jews and some do not; but no thoughtful man can doubt the fact that they are beyond all question the most formidable and the most remarkable race which has ever appeared in the world."
However, some evidence does exist supporting the proposition that Churchill's wife, Clementine, and his mother, Jenny Spencer-Churchill, were anti-Semites. There is no record of Sir Winston reproving Clementine for a 1931 letter to him in which she provided a negative description of New York's Jews, but he did chide his mother for describing Count de Bendern in an odious fashion and for publishing an offensive, anti-Semitic anecdote in her memoirs.
Clementine Churchill letter. In the rare August 28, 1947 letter exhibited here, Clementine responds to a request that Winston intercede in the Palestine issue with the British government:
I understand your sorrow about all that is happening in connection with Palestine and I regret that I must tell you that my Husband does not think he could intervene with the present Government with any success.
This letter was written at a time when tensions between British soldiers and the Jewish population of Eretz Yisrael rose as the Jewish underground armies renewed efforts to overthrow British rule. Churchill had lost his influence in Parliament when the Labor Party was roundly defeated by the Conservative Party, and Clement Attlee, no friend of the Jews, became prime minister.
* * * * *
The Winston Churchill Forest in the hills of Nazareth was dedicated on April 6, 1967, and, on November 4, 2012, a bronze sculpture of the British prime minister was dedicated at the Montefiore Gardens over Migdal David in Jerusalem to mark the 95th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration and the 90th anniversary of Churchill's visit to Jerusalem.
Churchill's death in 1965 was mourned by Jews in Israel and around the world, and both Ben-Gurion and then-president Zalman Shazar flew to London to attend the state funeral and pay their respects. (Their attendance at the public funeral on Shabbat was not without controversy in Jewish circles; then-Chief Rabbi Israel Brodie walked from his hotel to attend the service.)
Exhibited here is a program for a memorial service for Churchill held at the Yeshurun Central Synagogue in Jerusalem (February 1, 1965). The program included the kindling of memorial lights and recitation of Psalm 46, addresses by Chief Rabbi Isser Yehuda Unterman and Minister for Religious Affairs Zerach Warthaftig, and a closing with Psalm 23.
Australia Despite Low Infection & Deaths: Melbourne Goes Under Draconian Lock-Down: Police Drag people out of Cars for Questioning Australia's second-biggest city Melbourne began the first day of a six-week total lockdown on Thursday with the closure of most shops and businesses raising new fears of food shortages, as authorities battle a second wave of coronavirus infections, Reuters reported.
Australia has some of the lowest amount of cases in the world, with a population of 25 million, the Continent has seen only , around 20,968 virus cases and under 300 deaths. The newly mandated lockdown in Melbourne, the second largest city in Australia is surreal and something out of a dystopian science fiction movie .
Reuters reported:
After closing its international borders early, locking down cities and launching a campaign of mass virus testing, Australia had reopened in June with daily cases in the single figures.
But hidden transmissions among staff at quarantine centers led to wider community transmissions in Victoria, which has recorded triple-digit new cases for weeks.
Victoria now has the bulk of Australia's infections, with more than 13,000 reported cases. It reported a daily high of 725 new cases and 15 deaths on Wednesday.
Even with these alarming headlines "Second wave" "highest number of deaths in months", this extremely strict lockdown is now under the spotlight as some of the policies coming out of Melbourne are unbelievable and uncalled fo.
Authorities have a given police new powers to enter people's homes without a warrant and perform 'spot checks' to enforce compliance with new coronavirus lockdown rules.
In addition to an 8pm to 5am curfew, residents can only leave their homes outside those hours to shop for food and essential items, carry out care and caregiving, as well as daily exercise and work. Fines for violating the law can run as high as $5,000 dollars.
It was reported in alternative media outlets that within moments of the new lockdown rules being announced, eyewitnesses said police surrounded residential tower blocks in Melbourne to prevent people from leaving.
In the video below, Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Shane Patton explains how police, "Had to smash the windows of people in cars and pull them out of there so they could provide us their details because they weren't telling us where they were going, they weren't adhering to the chief health officer guidelines."
A video out of Melbourne, Australia shows a woman being pinned to the ground and arrested by police for being outside during lockdown, a confrontation that left her with severe bruising.
The clip shows the woman screaming in pain as three male officers try to handcuff her while kneeling on her body.
The woman is then led away as her daughter, who filmed the incident, is threatened with arrest for not producing her ID.
https://thejewishvoice.com/202...
Police have been forced into the extraordinary measure of smashing car
windows to get Victorians to comply with second wave COVID-19
restrictions in Victoria.
"On at least three or four occasions in the past week we've had to smash
the windows of people in cars and pull them out of there so they could
provide us their details because they weren't telling us where they were
going, they weren't adhering to the chief health officer guidelines,
they weren't providing their name and their address," Victoria Police
Chief Commissioner Shane Patton said.
Mr Patton said the discretion period for COVID-19 rules in Victoria had
"virtually closed" and more than 1500 patrolling officers and PSOs would
enforce the restrictions every day.
"It will only be in an exceptional circumstance – in an exceptional
circumstance – that Victoria Police will be using discretion because we
just have to stop this movement," he said.
"In the last week we've seen a trend, an emergence if you like, of
groups of people, small groups, but nonetheless concerning groups who
classify themselves as sovereign citizens – whatever that might mean –
people who don't think the law applies to them.
"We've seen them at checkpoints baiting police, not providing their name
and address.
"There are consequences for your actions, and if you're not doing the
right thing we will not hesitate to issue infringements, to arrest you,
to detail you where it's appropriate."
Image: News Corp Australia
Silence Is Compliance By Rabbi YY Rubinstein
My dear wife has taken to growing vegetables. Last erev Shabbat , a summer squash appeared. It was simply perfect. Today a bright red tomato made its debut. I posted a picture of it on my Facebook page with a message, "My wife and I are proud to announce the safe arrival of our first home grown cherry tomato. We are going to call it Tom if it's a boy and Sherry if it's a girl and NFL if it's an anti-Semite."
Of course, among my five thousand or so Facebook "friends,"
They fell into three categories, first there were those who were upset that I had implied that a tomato is a vegetable (It's a fruit… It's a FRUIT!). Then there were those who were upset that I had only offered two choices of pronoun, male or female (That sort of binary choice is apparently soooo wrong and hurtful. ABC News says there are at least 58 gender types. No really! Google and see).
Then there were those who were upset that I had suggested that the NFL is anti-Semitic.
In the interest of a quiet life, I conceded that a tomato is a fruit and that there are anything upward of twenty-three thousand different genders but please, don't try and tell me that the NFL isn't anti-Semitic.
Recently, Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver, DeSean Jackson, posted praise on his Instagram account for the man the Village Voice and even the ADL referred to as America's Black Hitler, Louis Farrakhan.
Jackson also posted a text mistakenly attributed to Adolf Hitler claiming that "White Jews" are exploiting Black Americans and resorting to blackmail and extortion to advance, "Their plan for world domination."
The Eagles owner, Jeffrey Lurie fined (Yes! that's "fined" not fired) Jackson an undisclosed amount and issued a statement saying the posts were "absolutely appalling." But the Eagles only made a vague promise to continue, "to evaluate the circumstances" and "take appropriate action."
What though of the NFL? They said the comments were, "highly inappropriate," (Ya think?) and passed the ball back to the Eagles.
Eagles defensive lineman, Malik Jackson defended his colleagues' comments, saying he was "speaking the truth."
It does not matter the enormity of the lie or the clearness of the racism, the NFL is scared and has been since Colin Kaepernick "took the knee."
For the NFL, Black Lies matter, especially if they are about Jews. To them the truth about Jews and the pain this vile and mendacious attack has caused doesn't matter at all. If it did, they would have taken action instead of displaying the most appalling cowardice, derisible tokenism and burying their heads in the sand.
In an article in the Washington Post, the director of the National Jewish Advocacy Center, Mark Goldfeder points out that, the FBI reports that the majority of religiously motivated hate crimes in the United States are committed against Jews. This is despite the fact that they make up less than 2% of the population. On campuses around the country, incidents of anti-Semitism have spiked to nearly 75%.
If the accusation, in post-George Floyd America is, "Silence is Compliance," where were all the athletes speaking out against this bigotry?
Let me share a true story about the owner of the Philadelphia Eagles and the Jews who rushed to play down Jackson's offense.
A friend of mine originally from South Africa, moved to the U.S. and settled in California. He is an extremely successful businessman and a close friend of one of India's richest men. His friend asked him to join him in London at the final meeting that would take place to secure a billion-dollar deal.
At the meeting someone made some disparaging remarks about Jews. My friend stood up and declared to his friend, "Sanjoy, I am sorry, but as a Jew and as a man, I cannot listen to this attack on my people, I have to leave." His friend also stood up and said, "If my friend is offended, so am I. The deal is off."
That is the reaction we should expect from the Jewish employer of DeSean Jackson and the NFL.
The Dehumanization Of Blacks By Dennis Prager
If you take black and white left-wing rhetoric seriously, blacks are not human beings like members of other races.
They are first and foremost black; they are human beings defined before anything else by their color – not their humanity, their personality, their character, their mind, or their heart. So much so that, according to white and black leftists, if you dissent from this racist view, you are now labeled racist.
The idiocy and inhumanity (literally) of this – the "progressive" – view of black people is easily demonstrated. Do any blacks see themselves first as black? When a black man, let's call him James, looks into the mirror, does he first see a black person, or does he see James? When a white woman, let's call her Karen (I'm playing with the left here), looks into the mirror, does she first see a white person, or does she see Karen? Does any human being first see his or her color?
Of course not. Yet, we are supposed to believe that the most important thing about a black individual is that he or she is black. And if we don't honor that fact – if we aim to be "colorblind" – we are racist.
This dehumanizing nonsense goes for racial truth these days. Thus, for example, we who are not black are supposed to acknowledge that we cannot possibly see the world the way a black person sees the world; we cannot possibly understand what it is like to be black.
This is part of the dogma the left imposes on society through the media, through cancel culture (say that you are colorblind and you might lose your job and your reputation), and through racial sensitivity training seminars at colleges and in the workplace.
But all this does is promulgate the view that blacks are inherently different from all other people. As a result, the only way the left's view of blacks differs from that of white supremacists is that the latter believes blacks are inherently inferior whereas the left believes blacks are inherently different. But both the left and the white supremacists agree that race contains immutable characteristics.
Aside from its inherent racism, the progressive view of blacks is pablum. No one can see the world through another's eyes. No one can fully understand what it is like to be any other human being. Do all whites understand how other whites see the world?
One of the ongoing jokes in the public dialogues I have with Adam Carolla around the country is how much we think alike despite the fact that our backgrounds could hardly be more different.
Other than being white and male, we have essentially nothing in common. He is an atheist; I am a religious believer. He is Italian; I'm a Jew. He grew up poor and on food stamps in Los Angeles; I grew up in a solid middle-class home in Brooklyn. He had little formal education and never went to college; I grew up in a house of intellectuals and went to an Ivy League graduate school.
Even though I cannot "relate" to his experience or he to mine, we are nevertheless very close because, in addition to that intangible thing that creates friendships, we have the same values.
On the other hand, I am a Jew, and George Soros is a Jew. Other than the same ethnic ancestry, we have absolutely nothing in common. I have far more in common with the black conservative intellectual Larry Elder. The notion that race or ethnicity bonds people is both stupid and racist.
The prominent black conservative John McWhorter, a Columbia professor, just wrote a review of White Fragility , the book the left most frequently recommends explaining America's alleged systemic racism. The title? "The Dehumanizing Condescension of 'White Fragility.'"
McWhorter writes: "One of America's favorite advice books of the moment is actually a racist tract."
"The book diminishes Black people in the name of dignifying us."
(I suspect it was The Atlantic's choice to capitalize "black"; the syndicators of my own column once changed "black" to "Black" because they follow the Associated Press' rules for English.)
"'White Fragility' is the prayer book for what can only be described as a cult."
"A corollary question is why Black people need to be treated the way DiAngelo assumes we do. The very assumption is deeply condescending to all proud Black people."
"Few books about race have more openly infantilized Black people than this supposedly authoritative tome. Or simply dehumanized us."
"Her answer to white fragility, in other words, entails an elaborate and pitilessly dehumanizing condescension toward Black people. The sad truth is that anyone falling under the sway of this blinkered, self-satisfied, punitive stunt of a primer has been taught, by a well-intentioned but tragically misguided pastor, how to be racist in a whole new way."
McWhorter understands that to see blacks the way the white and black left want people to see them is to dehumanize blacks. If blacks are to be black before they are human – if no non-black person can relate to blacks, disagree with blacks, or want to see past color to the person's heart – black-white relations will be set back a half-century.
Incredibly, beginning this coming year, thanks to progressive teachers, there will be mandatory reading of racist tracts like White Fragility to dehumanize blacks. That any black would see this as progress is worthy of tears.
Has Antifa finally Arrived in the Jewish State? By Rachel Avraham
About a month ago, Ken Abramovich, the chairman of the American Friends of Likud and head of Save the West, pondered whether it was possible for the race riots that began in the US following the brutal murder of George Floyd to arrive in the Jewish state. At that time, the BLM and Antifa riots had already started to spread from America to England, Greece, Mexico, Germany and a variety of other countries. However, Dr. Mordechai Kedar could not contemplate that any Jewish Israeli would ever bring that sort of violence to our country, for it is anathema to Israeli culture.
As journalist Lara Logan exposed, Antifa's mission statement includes "1) liberation will be won by any means necessary; 2) We will destroy the state, the police, military, corporations and all of those who run the plantations; 3) We will live in dignity in a world without prisons; 4) Systems of punishment will be abolished. There will be no law to enforce, no money to protect. 5) Revolutionary justice will be determined by those who are oppressed; 6) There will be no government. No person or group will have power over another. 7) Communities will make decisions about where they live and will make sure that everyone has what they need to live a dignified life; 8) Land is not property. It is alive, communal and must be protected. 9) Alongside international comrades, we will destroy all borders for the free movement of people everywhere; 10) Militant networks will defend our revolutionary communities. Liberation begins where America dies." Why would anyone Jewish want to support that, especially given the fact that Antifa has committed so many anti-Semitic acts of violence in America?
But in recent days, more and more violence has been registered in the daily demonstrations against the Israeli government. Matt Peleg, CEO of Im Tirtzu, stated in an exclusive interview: "A quarter a million walk down Rothschild in September and not a window was broken in the past. But now, there are stones being thrown on shops and homes." Furthermore, a topless woman stood on top of a statue of a menorah, waving Antifa imagery. This makes one ponder, has Antifa tactics taken over what was until recently a peaceful protest movement, seeking justice for those who suffered economically during the pandemic?
Although there is no evidence of a direct connection between the Israeli Black Flag protesters and Antifa or BLM, Peleg argued that they have nevertheless imported the symbols, the flag and the same attitude from abroad, acknowledging that doing such things is not typical Israeli behavior: "The New Israel Fund is active in the demonstrations via Standing Together, Zazim and other groups. They are always coming to every demonstration that is against the government. They also go after soldiers in Judea and Samaria. These same types of people have now come to Balfour and committed acts against the menorah." They also waved Palestinian flags and yelled out "crime minister."
"Im Tirtzu was not active in front of those demonstrations in the beginning, for it is legit to be against the prime minister," Peleg stressed. "We are a democracy. But when you do something against the menorah, attack reporters and taxi drivers, and attack shops, Im Tirtzu will be there for to do something against the menorah is dangerous. Today, there are two demonstrations. One is Antifa-like radicals and one is by the right-wingers. We called upon the two camps to sing Hatikva together at 10:50pm at night, for they need to finish at 11pm. Some of the left-wingers were saying that they would not sing Hativka, even though we are close to Tisha B'Av." This should tell you how much the radical left has taken over the protests.
Following the coronavirus pandemic, prominent Middle East scholar Dr. Mordechai Kedar believes that Israeli society is now divided: "There are those who consider the state as the fulfillment of the Jewish dream to come back to Zion and to renew the Jewish sovereignty over the Jewish forefathers land. For them, Israel is a dream fulfilled. They also suffer from the coronavirus economic crisis, but they are at home, trying to make a living one way or another. The other side of Israeli society who does not share the same dream view the state as a supplier of bread and amusement (nightclubs, pubs, restaurants, beaches). Since for five months the state does not provide enough bread and all the amusement sites are closed, they run to the streets. Therefore, roughly saying with clear generalization that most of the demonstrators in the street are left-wing, while the people who do not demonstrate tend to be on the right side of the political map. It involves much politics and culture. You hardly see people with yarmulkes on their heads in these demonstrations."
"The nude lady with the menorah resembles the cultural differences," Kedar added. "The menorah symbolizes the Jewish dream, especially in front of the Knesset. She gets on top of the menorah and strips her body to show that for her the amusement is more important than the Jewish dream. Sitting on the menorah topless shows her scale of priorities in life." Interestingly, the very idea of a woman striping as a form of protesting against the state originated in Portland, Oregon, with a woman known as Naked Athena stripping in front of police officers during an Antifa protest, while doing ballet poses nude in front of the cameras. Prior to that, nude protests have a long tradition in the West, from Lady Godiva to the Hippies to the Iraq War protests to the Yellow Vest and Femen protests in France: "It is the fashion today for women to expose themselves in order to cause attention to their cause."
While some commentators on the left have praised the topless woman standing on top of the menorah as a Lady Godiva-like feminist icon, posing naked in front of numerous spectators does nothing to enhance the status of women in Israel. It does not assist the country in battling increased incidents of domestic violence and rape within the family heading into another potential lockdown. It does not help any of the social workers in addressing the needs of battered Israeli women during the pandemic. It does not help rape survivors psychologically cope with the potential of another lockdown. All it does is objectify women as sexual objects, rather than portray females as thinking and feeling intellectual beings, who have an opinion to express.
Therefore, her action adversely affected the status of women in Israel, just as Antifa, the anti-Semitic movement that she glorified, offers no real solutions to the Israeli people struggling economically and psychologically with the pandemic. Therefore, adopting Antifa tactics, symbols and ideology harms any Israeli who seeks to speak out against the present economic disaster and seeks true solutions for the nation's problems. For this reason, the fact that these economic demonstrations have been taken over by the radical left is a great tragedy for each Israeli who loves the country yet opposes another lockdown.
