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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.

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Czech, Slovak, German foreign ministers in Israel on a solidarity visit

Czech Foreign Minister Jakub Kulhanek, Slovak Foreign Minister Ivan Korcok, and German Foreign Minister Heiko Mass arrived in Israel on Thursday at the invitation of Israeli Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi and as the IDF is in the midst of Operation Guardian of the Walls against Hamas in the Gaza Strip

Czech Foreign Minister Kulhanek said his visit is "first and foremost, a demonstration of the Czech Republic's unwavering support for Israel in these difficult times. Israel has every right to defend its citizens against indiscriminate terror."

Slovak Foreign Minister Korcok stated that "while we recognize Israel's right to protect its citizens against attacks of Hamas and other militant groups, Slovakia wants to contribute through active diplomacy to de-escalation in order to avoid further innocent victims."

German Foreign Minister Mass said his visit to Israel was a show of solidarity "with the people on both sides who fear for their lives day and night as Israel must defend itself against Hamas' rocket terror.

"The Middle East is experiencing the worst violence in years these days. That's why I'm going to Israel and the Palestinian territories. I will hold talks there about the current escalation and about our international efforts to end the violence," he stated.

In a meeting with Maas, Ashkenazi thanked Germany for condemning Hamas' terrorist activities.

"With every rocket fired, Hamas is committing a double war crime. They fire at Israeli citizens from within population centers in Gaza, using the entire population of Gaza as human shields," he noted.

"No country in the world would accept acts of terrorism and aggression towards its citizens. Israel uses proportionate force while doing all it can to avoid harming civilians," he stated.

Maas said that "as long as there are states and groups that threaten Israel with annihilation, it must be able to protect its people. Germany will continue to make its contribution to ensuring that it stays that way. Our solidarity is not limited to words."

Germany "supports the international efforts to reach a ceasefire and are convinced that the violence must end as soon as possible in the interests of the people," he said.

His country also "wants to broaden our view beyond the current situation. We are convinced that a life of security and peace will only be possible in the long term if Israelis and Palestinians can live independently, on both sides."

Rocket attacks from Gaza on Israel continued throughout the visit.

Ashkenazi hosted a tour for the three top diplomats at a site where rockets fell in Petah Tikvah in the center of the country to see "the reality for residents of Israel in the center of the country this last week and for residents of the south for much longer."

Defense Minister Benny Gantz met with Maas and the two "affirmed the deep ties of friendship between the two countries and underscored the shared goal of weakening extremist elements and strengthening moderate forces in Gaza and in the region at large, to the end of securing long-term peace and stability.

Netanyahu: Israel targets 'those who target us'

On Wednesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Ashkenazi briefed over 70 foreign ambassadors and diplomatic representatives on the situation in Israel, including EU and U.S. representatives and the ambassadors from Russia, China, India, Germany, Austria, Australia, Japan, Brazil, Canada and Italy.

During the briefing, Netanyahu presented the ambassadors with documentation of IDF attacks in the Gaza Strip against Hamas and the Islamic Jihad, as well as the location of stockpiles of missiles, rockets, terrorist buildings, command centers and many terrorist infrastructures.

He explained that rather than cowering to terrorism or leveling entire cities, Israel is targeting "those who target us with great precision. That is not a surgical operation as it is. Even in a surgical room in a hospital, you don't have the ability to prevent collateral damage around an infected tissue. Certainly, in a military operation, you cannot."

"There is no army in the world that does more than the Israeli army to prevent collateral damage. To have Israel criticized for that is absurd. Not only is absurd and unjust and untrue, it does enormous damage to democracies that are fighting this kind of evil," he underscored.

"Instead of having the perpetrators who commit double war crimes, who are hiding behind civilians and firing on civilians, not having them criticized but having you criticized is the height of hypocrisy and stupidity. What that does is in fact encourage the terrorists," he charged.

The Three Musketeers at the Kotel

David Axelrod Warns of Threat of Orthodox Jews Tue Apr 27, 2021 Daniel Greenfield

orthodox Jews are more conservative, religiously and politically. And that means that they're under attack.

Polls place them heavily on the conservative side of the spectrum in national elections. One poll showed 83% of Orthodox Jews voting for Trump, only 13% for Biden. As I noted in 2016, "Among non-Orthodox Jews, Hillary beats Trump by 66 to 23 percent. Among the Orthodox, Trump beats her 66 to 22 percent."

These numbers are not an outlier from the Trump era.

Only 3% of Orthodox Jews describe themselves as liberal. 69% of Orthodox Jews identity as politically conservative.

In some New York City Orthodox districts, Trump, Romney, and Bush won by 90%.

So it's no wonder that David Axelrod is ranting about the Jews.

The former Obama strategist is in good company considering that much of Democrat politics in New York in recent years, especially during the pandemic, has revolved around campaigns against Orthodox Jews, whether it's Cuomo falsely blaming them for the virus, or anti-Orthodox organizations like Yaffed being used as fronts for attacks on religious schools, but David Axelrod is saying the quiet part out loud.

"Certainly, there are places, in New York for example, where you've seen a growing ultra-Orthodox community becoming more active in politics," he said. "And I think there will be some of that effect. The question is whether the rest of the Jewish community stays, remains politically active. And I think it's really important that that be the case."

It's really important to keep religious Jews down.

"The American Jewish community is not a monolithic community… but the vast majority of the American Jewish community is a progressive community, very much in keeping with the values of the Jewish community," Axelrod said. "And the opposition that [Obama] received, and frankly, Hillary Clinton received, [that] Joe Biden received, comes from an Orthodox community that is viewing the entire American political scene through the lens of 'a two-state solution is not in the interest of Israel,' and that [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu's program is the program that should be followed."

"And so, you know, there's a quarter, maybe as much as 30% in that cohort," Axelrod continued. "It does not represent the whole American Jewish community, and there are many, many people in the American Jewish community who love Israel, and share the concerns about how how this Palestinian issue is dealt with."

The part that concerns Axelrod and Democrats is that the 30% keeps growing.

Orthodox Jews have far higher marriage rates (83%), far higher birth rates (4.1) and higher identification rates (99%).

60% of Jewish children in New York City are Orthodox. Another analysis found that over a quarter of Jews under 18 are Orthodox.

That's why the campaign against Orthodox Jews has gone prime time. As I predicted it would last decade. But Axelrod, like most lefties of Jewish ancestry, has absolutely no clue about who Orthodox Jews are.

Yes, Orthodox Jews almost universally oppose the pro-terrorist and anti-Israel policies that Democrats have embraced. But pro-Israel politics are strongest among Modern Orthodox and in some ways weakest among the so-called ultra-Orthodox Haredi and Hassidic Jews.

Quite a few Orthodox Jews are conservative because they are socially conservative. They oppose the Left's radical social programs, its support for criminals, its hostility to the family, its desire for higher taxes and more regulation, and the rest of the toxic kettle of diseased fish.

Orthodox Jews are more conservative because they're more conservative. Like conservative Christians, they have the same reflexive response to radical social politics.

And that's what Axelrod doesn't get. And Democrats are using their usual identity politics to deepen the divide.

The Chassidic Jews in Brooklyn protesting Cuomo and De Blasio over their pandemic scapegoating were not there because of Netanyahu. They were there because the Democrats were using bigotry to go after their community in exactly the same way that President Trump had been falsely accused by Democrats of going after Asians.

Axelrod's hateful comments only indicate that more of the same is coming from the Democrat machine.

Man of La Mancha - Man of La Mancha: Cervantes (Peter O'Toole) sings "Man of La Mancha (I, Don Quixote)."

Jewish Hippie Quiz

By Deborah Fineblum

1. When was Woodstock? What town was it in? Give yourself an extra point if you can recall the name of the (Jewish) gent who leased festival organizers his dairy farm.

2. What's the most hated day of the week and according to whom? And what or who was Jewish about it?

3. What's the only thing you can't get at Alice's Restaurant? And what is Jewish about that song?

4. What was Bob Dylan's original name and where was he born and raised?

5. What was Ram Dass' best-selling book? What was Jewish about that?

6. What was Nixon's nickname, who leveraged it into a popular song and what was remotely Jewish about that?

7. Fill in the blank: The Chicago ---- and tell us what their claim to fame was and if there were there any Jews in the bunch. And if so, whom?

8. What year was San Francisco's Summer of Love? Who was the famous rabbi who opened the center in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood and what was it called?

9. What was Archie Bunker's nickname for his long-haired son-in-law? What nationality was he in the show? What was Jewish about him?

10. Who was widely rumored to be the "Jewish Beatle"?

Bonus: What was a popular way of disposing of a draft card back then? An extra point if you can recall the garment that often suffered the same fate.

Deborah Fineblum

Answers below

Man of La Mancha (1972) - The Impossible Dream Scene (6/9) | Movieclips

Trump in the Golon and the Banyas two of two

On the 100 Degree day in Jerusalem in Mid April (It always happens in
April and May) we take off for the Golon.

We stay overnight at the ORR HALEVNA Chalet near the new Trump City
The next we do the Banyas. Always something new in Israel. We got at the
end to the Palace of Agrippa
Ruins Of The Agrippa Palace In Caesarea Philippi

Caesarea Philippi was an ancient Roman city at the Southwestern corner
of Mount Hermon. It is near a spring with awesome water, a grotto, and
many shrines that lay nearby in ruins. This is a ruin of a high place
that was dedicated to the Greek god, Pan. This archaeological site is,
for the most part, uninhabited, and lies sleeping in the Golan Heights.

Latter Caesarea Philippi was called Caesarea Paneaus, dedicated to the
god Pan, and again the name mutated during the Hellenistic and Islamic
periods to become Banias. Banias is what the archaeological site is
known by today.

Banias is a mispronunciation of Philip

During the early Christian err, Paul spoke to those in authority about
His walk with the Lord, at this very place. He chose this as a time and
place to give testimony as to his walk "after the way."

Answers to Jewish Hippy Quiz

1. On August 14-16, 1969 Woodstock Music and Art Fair drew a half million hippies to the small Catskills town of Bethel N.Y. where Jewish dairy farmer Max Yasgur had rented organizers his 600-acre farm.

2. Monday. Since the Mamas & the Papas declared in their 1966 tune Monday Monday that "Every other day, every other day of the week is fine, yeah. But whenever Monday comes, you can find me cryin' all of the time." Mama Cass Elliot, by the way, was born Ellen Naomi Cohen in Baltimore.

3. Alice herself. As singer-songwriter Arlo Guthrie (His dad: Famed folksinger Woody Guthrie and his Jewish mom: dancer Marjorie Mazia Guthrie), sang in his 56-verse musical saga Alice's Restaurant Massacree. "You can get anything you want at Alice's Restaurant. Excepting Alice. "You can get anything you want at Alice's Restaurant. I said walk right in, it's around the back. Just a half a mile from the railroad track. And you can get anything you want at Alice's Restaurant."

4. Robert Allen Zimmerman, born in Duluth, Minn. in 1941. Beginning with the release of "The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan" in 1962, Dylan was destined to bestow on the hippie movement such generation-defining anti-establishment classics as Blowin' in the Wind, The Times They Are a-Changin' and All Along the Watchtower.

5. Be Here Now. The Harvard psychology professor-turned-psychedelic-researcher-yogi Ram Dass (born in 1931 into a Boston Jewish family as Richard Alpert) filled the pages of this 1971 spiritual guidebook with a stew of yoga, mysticism and meditation. The thick square paperback, with its distinctive blue mandala cover, was soon a must-have for hippies everywhere.

6. Tricky Dick. It was, sadly for the president, not a term of endearment. To whit: These lyrics from the 1972 tune Tricky Dicky by singer-songwriter and Woodstock performer Country Joe McDonald (you guessed it, his mom Florence Plotnick was Jewish): "The war keeps going on and on and the kids won't respect the cops. It's even said that God is dead. When will it ever stop? Hey, it's Tricky Dicky from Yorba Linda. Hip hip hip hurrah."

7. Seven. The defendants – including such Jewish counter-culture cowboys as Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin, were arrested at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago for conspiracy and crossing state lines with intent to incite a riot. Eventually all were acquitted on appeal and released. But not before six of the seven were forced to undergo haircuts in jail for "sanitary reasons."

8. 1968. With the streets of San Francisco a magnet for young hippies, Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach whose music would transform Jewish worship across the denominations, opened the House of Love and Prayer in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood to pull those the rabbi called the "holy hippielech" off the streets and into Jewish life.

9. Meathead. During the eight-year run (1971-1979) of Norman Lear's wildly popular sitcom All in the Family, each week viewers were treated to the verbal sparring between that master of the malapropism Archie Bunker (Carroll O'Connor) and his sarcastic live-in hippie son-in-law Michael Stivic, aka the aforementioned Meathead. In the show he was Polish but actor Rob Reiner is you guess it a Yid.

10. That would be Ringo. The thought of a "Jewish Beatle" not only thrilled the Jewish pre-pubescents of the '60s and '70s, but also earned Starr anti-Semitic death threats while performing in Montreal. Alas, it was not true. Starr (now Sir Ringo), however, does have two close family connections: his Jewish stepdad Harry Graves and Jewish wife, actress Barbara Bach (Goldbach), now Lady Starkey.

Bonus: In the era of Vietnam, draft cards were burned across the US, some of the burners left for Canada… At around the same time women's libbers often burned their bras.