Tuesday, June 2, 2020

Annex It Already By Vic Rosenthal and US grocery costs jump the most in 46 years and the Tucker Carlson story and 10 great quotes from Jewish History

Can't see images? Click here...

Yehuda Lave, Spiritual Advisor and Counselor

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

Love Yehuda Lave

Here's the map of the range of Covid deaths in the US.

Tell me why we needed to shut down the economy and destroy the lives of so many hard working people

Listening to the Experts regarding the Covid-19 Epidemic includes listening to the Psychologists, Law Enforcement Personnel and Economists, not just the Epidemiologists.

Ideas, that help explain how the world works-US grocery costs jump the most in 46 years

US grocery costs jump the most in 46 years, led by rising prices for meat and eggs Prices Americans paid for eggs, meat, cereal, and milk shot higher in April as people flocked to grocery stores to stock up on food amid government lockdowns designed to slow the spread of Covid-19. 

The Labor Department reported Tuesday that prices U.S. consumers paid for groceries jumped 2.6% in April, the largest one-month pop since February 1974. The spike in supermarket prices was broad-based and impacted items from broccoli and ham to oatmeal and tuna.

The price of the meats, poultry, fish, and eggs category rose 4.3%, fruits and vegetables climbed 1.5%, cereals and bakery products advanced 2.9%, and dairy goods gained 1.5%.

The grocery numbers stand in stark contrast to the broader trend in U.S. prices, which fell 0.8% in April and clinched their largest one-month decline since 2008 as a swoon in oil and gasoline dragged the headline CPI number lower.

"Food price gains were robust as we know there are empty shelves out there," Peter Boockvar, chief investment officer at Bleakley Advisory Group, wrote in an email. "Demand we know in most areas of the economy has collapsed and prices are falling in response."

Excluding the volatile food and energy components, so-called core CPI dropped 0.4%, its largest slump ever through records kept since 1957. "In areas where demand has hung in, like 'food at home' we have inflation because the supply side has been damaged, whether directly via infected facilities or because of the higher costs of finding freight capacity," Boockvar added.

10 Great Quotes from Jewish People in History and who they were.

Great Quotes from Jewish People in History and who they were

  1. 1. "A righteous man falls down seven times and gets up." – King Solomon, Proverbs, 24:16.

King Solomon, was, according to the Hebrew Bible,  a fabulously wealthy and wise king of the United Kingdom of Israel who succeeded his father, King David.

The conventional dates of Solomon's reign are about 970 to 931 BCE, normally given in alignment with the dates of David's reign. He is described as the king of the United Monarchy, which broke apart into the northern Kingdom of Israel and the southern Kingdom of Judah shortly after his death. Following the split, his patrilineal descendants ruled over Judah alone.

According to the Talmud, Solomon is one of the 48 prophets.

2. "Gam Zu l'tova. This too is for the good." – Nachum Ish Gamzu, Talmud, 

Nachum was a teacher of Rabbi Akiva, and taught him the exegetical principle of inclusion and exclusion.


3. "If I am not for me, who is for me; and if I am (only) for myself, what am I. And if not now, when?" – Hillel, Ethics of the Fathers, 1:14

Hillel was a Jewish religious leader, sage and scholar associated with the development of the Mishnah and the Talmud and the founder of the House of Hillel school of tannaim. Born: 110 BC, Babylon Died: 10 AD, Jerusalem


4. "Who is wise? One who learns from every man… Who is strong? One who overpowers his inclinations… Who is rich? One who is satisfied with his lot… Who is honorable? One who honors his fellows." – Ben Zoma, Ethics of the Fathers, 4:1

Simeon ben Zoma, also known as Simon ben Zoma, Shimon ben Zoma, or simply Ben Zoma, was a Tanna of the 1st and 2nd centuries CE. His name is used without the title "Rabbi" because, like Ben Azzai, he died at a young age, remaining in the grade of "pupil" and never receiving semikhah (Rabbinical ordination). Ben Zoma and Ben Azzai are often mentioned together as distinguished representatives of this class. 

5. "L'fum Tzara Agra, according to the effort is the reward." – Ben Hei Hei, Ethics of the Fathers, 5:26.

In English, we say No pain, no gain (or "No gain without pain") 

Like Ben Bag Bag, Ben Hei Hei was a convert and a disciple of Hillel (some ... of an individual faced with the choice of saving his own life or that of his companion. ... better than both drink and die, rather than one behold his companion's death.


6. "I do not want followers who are righteous, rather I want followers who are too busy doing good that they won't have time to do bad." – Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Kotzk

Menachem Mendel Morgensztern of Kotzk, better known as the Kotzker Rebbe (1787–1859) was a Hasidic rabbi and leader

Born to a non-Hasidic family in Goraj near Lublin, Poland, he became attracted to Hasidic philosophy in his youth. He was known for having acquired impressive Talmudic and Kabbalistic knowledge at an early age. 

7. "If you are not a better person tomorrow than you are today, what need have you for a tomorrow?" – Rebbe Nachman of Breslov

Nachman of Breslov, also known as Reb Nachman of Bratslav, Reb Nachman Breslover, Nachman from Uman, was the founder of the Breslov Hasidic movement. Rebbe Nachman, a great-grandson of the Baal Shem Tov, revived the Hasidic movement by combining the esoteric secrets of Judaism with in-depth Torah scholarship Born: April 4, 1772, Medzhybizh, Ukraine: Died: October 16, 1810, Uman', Ukraine

Place of Burial: Rabbi Nachman Breslev Grave Site, Uman', Ukraine


8. "I don't speak because I have the power to speak; I speak because I don't have the power to remain silent" – Rabbi A.Y. Kook

Abraham Isaac Kook, also known by the acronym הראי״ה (HaRaAYaH);7 September 1865 – 1 September 1935) was an Orthodox rabbi, the first Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of British Mandatory Palestine in the Land of Israel, the founder of Yeshiva Mercaz HaRav (The Central Universal Yeshiva), 

9. "There are two things that are infinite, the universe and man's stupidity..... And I am not sure about the universe." – Albert Einstein

  1. "In Jewish history there are no coincidences." – Elie Wiesel

Eliezer "Elie" Wiesel (September 30, 1928 – July 2, 2016) was a Romanian-born American Jewish writer, professor, political activist, Nobel Laureate, and Holocaust survivor. He authored 57 books, written mostly in French and English, including Night, a work based on his experiences as a prisoner in the Auschwitz and Buchenwald concentration camps. 

Annex It Already By Vic Rosenthal -

Discussions of "annexation" by Israel's new unity government have triggered shrieks of outrage from the usual suspects, from Mahmoud Abbas to the EU to Joe Biden. The Arab League announced that it would be a "new war crime…against the Palestinian people." The Israeli Left is up in arms. Even the American Union for Reform Judaism got into the act.

They should calm down.

What is proposed isn't new, it directly affects virtually no Palestinian Arabs, it is not "illegal under international law," and it isn't a "war crime." As part of the Trump plan, it is perhaps the most practical path to ending the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Arabs that doesn't involve war.

What is to be annexed is only part of Judea and Samaria: the Jordan Valley, with the exception of the city of Jericho, and Israeli communities in the rest of Judea and Samaria. There are almost no Palestinians living in these places. The map will be complicated, and in order to provide contiguity for Jewish and Palestinian areas, will include bypass roads and tunnels. The Palestinian area will get as much autonomy as possible, consistent with Israel's security: it will be something less than a completely sovereign state, since it will be demilitarized and its borders will be controlled by Israel.

It's interesting to note that this is not a new idea, or a uniquely right-wing one. Indeed, its biggest proponents have been left-wingers.

The plan is an implementation of the idea originally expressed in the famous UN Security Council resolution 242, which called for Israel to withdraw from parts of its conquered lands, and to establish "secure and recognized boundaries" for all states in the region.  Shortly after the war in 1967, Yigal Allon, a former general and a Labor Party minister in the Israeli government, proposed a map similar to Trump's which envisioned a "two state solution" with Palestinian control of the Arab areas. Later, he modified it for Jordanian control, but the map was similar. Of course both Jordan and the PLO rejected the idea. But for years, the "Allon plan" was the paradigm accepted by the Israeli Left.

After the signing of the Oslo Accords, and almost exactly a month before he was murdered, another former Palmach commander and left-wing hero, Yitzhak Rabin made a speech to the Knesset in which he described the Interim Agreement that had been signed with the PLO, and his understanding of what the final status would be like. Among other things, he said,

We view the permanent solution in the framework of State of Israel which will include most of the area of the Land of Israel as it was under the rule of the British Mandate and alongside it a Palestinian entity which will be a home to most of the Palestinian residents living in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

We would like this to be an entity which is less than a state and which will independently run the lives of the Palestinians under its authority. The borders of the State of Israel, during the permanent solution, will be beyond the lines which existed before the Six Day War. We will not return to the 4 June 1967 lines. [My emphasis]

And these are the main changes, not all of them, which we envision and want in the permanent solution:

  1. First and foremost, united Jerusalem, which will include both Ma'ale Adumim and Givat Ze'ev – as the capital of Israel, under Israeli sovereignty, while preserving the rights of the members of the other faiths, Christianity and Islam, to freedom of access and freedom of worship in their holy places, according to the customs of their faiths.
  2. The security border of the State of Israel will be located in the Jordan Valley, in the broadest meaning of that term. [My emphasis]
  3. Changes which will include the addition of Gush Etzion, Efrat, Beitar and other communities, most of which are in the area east of what was the "Green Line" prior to the Six-Day War.
  4. The establishment of blocs of settlements in Judea and Samaria, like the one in Gush Katif.

This too is very close to the Trump plan. It is ironic that some of the same people that call Netanyahu a hard-liner or even a criminal for his stated intention to annex the Jordan Valley are those that celebrate Rabin as a progressive peacemaker.

Until 2000, this was more or less the Israeli understanding of "two-state solution." The PLO, naturally, had a different vision. For them, it meant that Israel would remove both the IDF and civilian communities from all areas conquered in 1967 including the Jordan Valley and eastern Jerusalem (perhaps with very minor adjustments), and that Arab refugees would have a right to return to Israel or to receive compensation. They saw Oslo as a very great compromise of principle, since they believe that all of Israel should be in their hands. But as Arafat said shortly after, once this was accomplished, the rest would soon follow (see also here).

Israel, under pressure from the US and Europe, and still in the grip of the Oslo delusion that the PLO could be a partner, ignored the threats from Arafat and other PLO members as well as the murderous terrorism that ramped up during the 1990s, and made concession after concession to the PLO. In 2000, the plan as envisioned by Rabin was almost forgotten as Ehud Barak offered almost all of Judea and Samaria to Arafat – and was still turned down. Arafat's strategy had always been to alternate diplomacy and terror, and now, after the diplomatic gains he had achieved by pocketing the Clinton-Barak proposals, he unleashed the greatest terror offensive of all, the Second Intifada.

But he went too far. The IDF crushed the revolt and the Israeli people, at long last, gave up on the Oslo process and the political parties that had been telling them that peace was just around the corner if they would just give up a little more. When the evacuation of Gaza was followed by rocket barrages, it only emphasized that a withdrawal from Judea and Samaria would be even more disastrous. The last gasp of the "Clinton parameters" was an abortive attempt at surrender in 2008 by Ehud Olmert, Israel's worst PM ever. Anti-Israel President Barack Obama tried to revive the concession process, but Israel, now with Binyamin Netanyahu as PM, maintained the status quo.

With the advent of Trump, it became possible to restore considerations of Israel's security and other interests into discussions of the future of Judea and Samaria, which had become focused entirely on Palestinian demands. Israel's experience with Gaza has shown that we cannot afford to give up military control to a fully sovereign Palestinian state on the high ground opposite our population centers. Geographical considerations make it clear that Israel also has to occupy and fortify the western slope of Jordan Valley, in order to defend the state against conventional attack from the east. Strategic depth is required even in this day of threats from nuclear-armed missiles, because it is needed for early warning and interception systems. The Jordan Valley also must be under our control if we are to maintain the demilitarized status of the Palestinian entity.

Some on the Right argue that the Trump plan is unacceptable because it calls for a Palestinian state of some kind, and that allowing any such entity in Israel's heartland will ultimately prove destructive. I can sympathize. But today it is not necessary to accept and implement the Trump plan as a whole. It is still absolutely clear that whether or not there will be a Palestinian entity and what its degree of sovereignty will be, the Jordan Valley and the settlement blocs in Judea and Samaria are essential to our defense. It is still certain that we can never again allow the expulsion of Jews from their homes as happened in Gaza. And while we have a window of opportunity to move today to establish facts on the ground, we can't be sure that it will persist beyond the next American election.

Therefore there is only one course of action that makes sense today, and that is to move forward with the annexation. Whatever happens, our security demands it.

Thoughts for the day

A young lady confidently walked around the room with a raised glass of water while leading a seminar and explaining stress management to her audience. Everyone knew she was going to ask the ultimate question, 'Half empty or half full?' She fooled them all. "How heavy is this glass of water?" she inquired with a smile. Answers called out ranged from 8 oz. To 20 oz.


She replied, "The absolute weight doesn't matter. It depends on how long I hold it. If I hold it for a minute, that's not a problem. If I hold it for an hour, I'll have an ache in my right arm.

If I hold it for a day, you'll have to call an ambulance. In each case it's the same weight, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes."

She continued, "and that's the way it is with stress. If we carry our burdens all the time, sooner or later, as the burden becomes increasingly heavy, we won't be able to carry on."

"As with the glass of water, you have to put it down for a while and rest before holding it again. When we're refreshed, we can carry on with the burden - holding stress longer and better each time practiced.

So, as early in the evening as you can, put all your burdens down. Don't carry them through the evening and into the night. Pick them up again tomorrow if you must.

1 * Accept the fact that some days you're the pigeon, and some days you're the statue!

2 * Always keep your words soft and sweet, just in case you have to eat them.

3 * Always read stuff that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it.

4 * Drive carefully... It's not only cars that can be recalled by their Maker.

5 * If you can't be kind, at least have the decency to be vague.

6 * If you lend someone $20 and never see that person again, it was probably worth it.

7 * It may be that your sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others.

8 * Never buy a car you can't push.

9 * Never put both feet in your mouth at the same time, because then you won't have a leg to stand on.

10 * Nobody cares if you can't dance well. Just get up and dance.

11 * Since it's the early worm that gets eaten by the bird, sleep late.

12 * The second mouse gets the cheese.

13 * When everything's coming your way, you're in the wrong lane.

14 * Birthdays are good for you. The more you have, the longer you live.

16 * Some mistakes are too much fun to make only once.

17 * We could learn a lot from crayons. Some are sharp, some are pretty and some are dull. Some have weird names and all are different colors, but they all have to live in the same box.

18 * A truly happy person is one who can enjoy the scenery on a detour.

19 * Have an awesome day and know that someone has thought about you today.

AND MOST IMPORTANTLY

20 *Save the earth..... It's the only planet with chocolate!*

Today someone asked me if I liked you all. I laughed, and said, "Ha! That's funny!! I absolutely LOVE them!! They're funny, caring, crazy as heck, sweet, beautiful, they're reading this email right now & I love them!!"


Be the kind of person that when your feet hit the floor each morning the devil says~~ « 

Oh -Oh »

Tucker Swanson McNear Carlson

Tucker Swanson McNear Carlson is an American conservative journalist, author, and political commentator who has hosted the nightly political talk show Tucker Carlson Tonight on Fox News since 2016. Carlson became a print journalist in the 1990s, writing for the magazine The Weekly Standard. He was a commentator on CNN from 2000 to 2005 and co-hosted the primetime news debate program Crossfire. Carlson then hosted the nightly program Tucker on MSNBC from 2005 to 2008. He has been a political analyst for Fox News since 2009, appearing as guest or guest host on various programs before the launch of his current show. In 2010, Carlson co-founded and served as the initial editor-in-chief of the conservative news and opinion website The Daily Caller.
Carlson has written two books, the memoir Politicians, Partisans and Parasites: My Adventures in Cable News (2003) and Ship of Fools: How a Selfish Ruling Class is Bringing America to the Brink of Revolution (2018) "Countries can survive war and famines and disease. They cannot survive leaders who despise their own people." ― Tucker Carlson, Ship of Fools: How a Selfish Ruling Class Is Bringing America to the Brink of Revolution

It is nice to be around people who think differently than you. They challenge your ideas and keep you from being complacent. Tucker Carlson

I have no way of knowing how people really feel, but the vast majority of those I meet couldn't be nicer. Every once in a while someone barks at me. My New Year's resolution is not to bark back. Tucker Carlson

You want people with different life experiences as a backstop against bad decision. Tucker Carlson

You can't fix a problem if you don't have the words to describe it. You can't even think about it clearly. Tucker Carlson

There's no law of nature that says America must remain the most powerful country in the world. Tucker Carlson

All standards are double standards. Tucker Carlson
It's normal for people, especially politicians, to expect rewards in return for favors. Tucker Carlson

Almost nobody gets rich or erudite overnight. Tucker Carlson

See you tomorrow bli neder, We need Moshiach now

Love Yehuda Lave

Rabbi Yehuda Lave

PO Box 7335, Rehavia Jerusalem 9107202

LIKE TWEET FORWARD

You received this email because you signed up on our website or made purchase from us.

Unsubscribe

Monday, June 1, 2020

The perfect storm created by the Lockdown is causing the riots and Los Angeles Will “Never Be Completely Open Until We Have a Cure.” and The Left Lied About Me – Again By Dennis Prager and get your 50% bus discount today and how the Biblical book of Ruth ties into the Coronavirus

Can't see images? Click here...

Yehuda Lave, Spiritual Advisor and Counselor

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

Love Yehuda Lave

I am pleased to report that yesterday in time for today's new month bus pass, I was successful in getting my discount for my wife and myself. It took hours with a trip to the central bus station, who still couldn't help me, but they sold me a rav card reader that I was able to load the discount myself.

The card will be helpful in that now I can load the monthly pass myself at home for my wife and I without going to a machine. It only cost 5 scheks and it actually works. Get your discont now, today June 1. 2020

The Perfect storm created the new race riots in America

Whose bright idea was it shut down our economy, to begin with?
This isn't rocket science.  You shut down a 22 trillion dollar economy. You wipe out thousands of businesses.  You throw over 40 million people out of work.  You confine people to their homes and put them under virtual house arrest.  You deny folks the ability to travel, the ability to eat out, to go to a movie, to go to a sporting event, a bar, a casino, or a nightclub. You won't even allow folks to get their haircut for crying out loud.
The government has succeeded in turning nearly all of our cities into boiling cauldrons with no healthy outlets.  Not to mention millions and millions of unemployed people who cannot provide basic necessities for their families. Millions are now facing poverty and homelessness as a result of these totally insane policies put into place to fight the virus.

A perfect storm has been created and all it took was the incident in Minneapolis to ignite this mess. 

Whoever thought of the idea of shutting down our economy should be summarily marched in front of a firing squad.  We were initially told the lockdown would only last a couple of weeks. But it has lasted for months.

No time in history have the healthy been quarantined to protect them from the sick. Quarantines are of the sick, not of the healthy. It was and is Insane. If one thing doesn't work, you don't stop the 99% that works, you throw out the 1%.  Lockdowns reverse this process.

This whole disaster was totally preventable and will go down as the greatest blunders in our nation's history.

The Book of Ruth and the Coronavirus

The Book of Ruth is an Old Testament book belonging to the third section of the biblical canon the Tanach, known as the Ketuvim, or Writings. ... The book is named for its central character, a Moabite woman who married the son of a Judaean couple living in Moab.

The Book of Ruth is one of only two books of the bible to be named after women (the other is Esther). Even though it's small, this remarkable book contains many principles with a profound impact on our lives today.

In the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) Ruth stands with the Song of Solomon, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, and Esther; together they make up the Megillot, five scrolls that are read at prescribed times on Jewish religious festivals.  Ruth was the festival scroll that we had for Shavout, the Feast of Weeks, 50 days after Passover.

One of the most inspiring messages of the book of Ruth is that a person who displays selfless compassion will be rewarded in the end. At the beginning of the book, readers are introduced to Naomi and her two daughters-in-law, Ruth and Orpah.

Ruth, a woman who after being widowed remains with her husband's mother. ... Where you die, I will die—there will I be buried." Ruth accompanies Naomi to Bethlehem and later marries Boaz, a distant relative of her late father-in-law. She is a symbol of abiding loyalty and devotion

    Here is a quick synopsis of the Book of Ruth. To start out, a woman by the name of Naomi packed up and moved from Judah to Moab due to a terrible famine that was affecting her family. She and her husband moved there with their two sons, who eventually took wives (Ruth and Opah) while living in Moab.

    Tragically, Naomi lost her husband and two sons. Broken and empty, Naomi decided to move back to Bethlehem in Judah. Her daughter-in-law Ruth came with her since she had also lost her husband. Keep in mind that Ruth was a Moabite woman, and she was now moving to Judah as a foreigner. This was a big deal in their culture, but she was committed to Naomi as her daughter-in-law, and she wanted to follow after the G-d of Israel. Ruth steadfastly stayed with her Mother-in-law and uttered her famous words that she would stick with Naomi through thick and thin. Her sister-in-law left and according to tradition became the Great grandmother of Goliath who King David later kills.

    While in Judah, G-d worked out an amazing plan for a man named Boaz to take Ruth as his wife, give her a child, and provide for her and Naomi. What's remarkable about this plan was that Boaz was qualified as a "kinsman-redeemer" to take her as his wife.

    What in the world is a "kinsman-redeemer" you may ask? Well, they had a custom in those days, based upon Deuteronomy  25-6 that directed that a relative of a man who dies should marry that man's widow in order to perpetuate his lineage through this woman.

    According to G-d's remarkable sovereignty, it turned out that Boaz was a relative to Ruth's husband who had passed away; so, he was qualified to marry her and perpetuate his lineage. So, even in the midst of Ruth and Naomi's awful affliction, God still had a plan to take care of them. Pretty cool, right?

There  are  important applications that jump out:

    1)  God is concerned about all people regardless of race, nationality, or status.

    Ruth was not a Jew. She was a Moabite. Even though many discriminated against her, G-d loved her just the same. G-d does not discriminate, and He/She loves all people just the same.

    2)  Men and women are both equally important to G-d.

    G-d cares about men and women all the same. We are all one in His eyes. While most false religions that have been constructed over the centuries often elevate men and dishonor women, Judaism is the one religion that consistently honors men and women at the same level. There is no difference in His eyes.

    3)  There is no such thing as an unimportant person in G-d's eyes.

    At a surface level, few saw Ruth as an important person. She was from Moab, which was a nation that originated from an incestuous encounter between Lot and one of his daughters (see  Genesis 19:30-36). She was a poor widow. She was living in a foreign land away from her birth family. 

    But G-d saw her as important and His plan for her life culminated in her becoming a part of the lineage of King David (as the great-great-grandmother to King David). G-d's plan typically involves using people who are considered to be underdogs or unimportant or unimpressive from man's perspective. His strength is made perfect in our weakness 

    4)  G-d uses "little" things to accomplish great plans.

    What an amazing plan G-d had for a series of "little" things that all added up to important pieces in G-d's big plan. God intended for Ruth to be a part of the story of the lineage of King David. So, He pulled together events such as the famine, Naomi's relocation to Moab, their return to Bethlehem, Boaz's bloodline, and many other events just to ensure that Ruth could be a part of His plan. The other book named after a woman, Esther, has many similar little things that add up to big things. And G-d does that same thing in our lives today! All the events of the CoronaVirus are part of his/her plan

Israel Achieves Breakthrough in Race for Coronavirus Cure by Isolating Antibodies Inbox x Roland Seener

https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/150150/israel-discovers-successful-antibody-treatment-covid-19/

The Left Lied About Me – Again By Dennis Prager

Three years ago, I wrote a column explaining left-right differences in 35 different subjects. Anyone or two of them would make for a major political/cultural divide. Thirty-five make the divide unbridgeable.

What's difficult to explain are the roots of this divide. I believe it is a commitment to truth. Since I began studying the left as a graduate student of communism at the Russian Institute of the Columbia School of International Affairs, of one thing I have been certain: Truth is not a left-wing value.

It is a liberal value, and it is a conservative value, but truth has never been a left-wing value. From Lenin to today's left, lying – especially about opponents – is morally acceptable as long as it serves the left's goals of defeating opponents and attaining more power. Once you realize this, the divide becomes explicable.

Why has YouTube taken down the video of two emergency room physicians who argue that the lockdown may not be called for? Because the left has no interest in truth. It does not argue with opponents; it shuts them down.

That's why the left is pressuring YouTube and Facebook to prohibit anything it differs with from appearing on their platforms. Just as the Soviets labeled everything in the Western press "imperialist propaganda," the left labels everything with which it differs "misinformation."

That's also why virtually every university does whatever it can to prevent conservatives from speaking on their campuses.

Why has The New York Times just received a Pulitzer Prize for what leading liberal historians have labeled its "mendacious" rewriting of American history, known as "The 1619 Project"? Because to The New York Times and the Pulitzer Prize committee, truth is less important than smearing America.

When it cannot stifle opponents, the left smears them. Every prominent conservative or liberal opponent of the left has been smeared – which is just another way of saying "lied about" – as being sexist, intolerant, xenophobic, homophobic, Islamophobic, racist, bigoted, misogynistic, transphobic, etc.

Allow me to use an example I know well: me.

In the span of just this past year, Newsweek lied, claiming I "mocked" Anne Frank (to Newsweek's credit, it revised its column and published a corrected headline), and Purdue University's "vice provost of diversity and inclusion" claimed I said, "Slavery was not bad" in a speech I gave at Purdue.

I sent this person a recording of my speech proving I never said anything remotely like what he charged. After many of my listeners and readers protested to the vice provost and Purdue's president, the vice provost wrote me a private letter saying he was sorry if he "misunderstood" me. His charge was public; his apology was private.

This past week, as pure a lie as the previous two was manufactured by Media Matters – a left-wing organization whose sole purpose is lying and smearing conservatives – and then picked up by various media.

This is what I said – word for word – on my radio show: "How many names have blacks gone through in my lifetime? 'Colored,' 'Negro,' 'African American,' 'black.' That's four different titles for the same human being. What was wrong with 'Negro'? What was wrong with 'colored'? There's no problem with any of them.

"Do you know that the NAACP is still the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People? And then 'African American' – that changed, too. Does it have a dash or hyphen, or not? I don't remember what was connoted by having a hyphen or not."

Media Matters declared the comments "racist." And the allegation was dutifully picked up by the New York Daily News, which ran this headline: "Conservative Talk-Radio Host Dennis Prager Bemoans Loss of Racial Slurs, Gets History Lesson." And by the Daily Mail, which ran this headline: "Conservative Talk-Radio Host Dennis Prager, 71, Bemoans the Loss of Racial Slurs in Society to Describe Black People."

The article, by Daily Mail writer James Gordon, a Media Matters follower (he actually appended a link to Media Matters at the end of his column), claimed: "Prager…used his show to bemoan society no longer using racist language coined during eras of slavery and segregation."

Everything about these articles is a lie. Not one of those titles for blacks is racist. Therefore, I could not possibly "bemoan" the fact that society no longer uses these words.

The term Martin Luther King Jr., every other black leader and every non-black anti-racist through the 1960s used to described black people was "Negro." There is, to this day, a major black organization called the United Negro College Fund. A variant of the term "colored" is regularly used by liberals to this day – "people of color" – to describe non-whites.

"Black" is used by everyone, including most blacks. And "African American" is not only not a "racist slur"; it is also the contemporary left's preferred term for blacks.

Media Matters created a lie out of whole cloth about me. And those who rely on Media Matters – such as James Gordon at the Daily Mail and Nancy Dillon at the Daily News – repeated it, word for word. I invite both of them to come on my radio show to defend the accuracy of their articles.

For the record, my view on race is taken from Viktor Frankl. There are only two races: the decent and the indecent.

If you wish to send either or both of these writers this column and/or your own thoughts, I can only tell you that your letters to Newsweek and Purdue cases were immensely helpful. We need to fight back.

Nancy Dillon: ndillon@nydailynews.com; twitter.com/NancyDillonNYDN.

Daily Mail: www.dailymail.co.uk/home/contactus/article-3701145/Factual-Inaccuracies.html.

Let's put things in "Perspective"


>>
>>   We probably all think that it's a mess out there now. Hard to discern between what's a real threat and what is just simple panic and hysteria.
>>
>>    For a small amount of perspective at this moment, imagine you were born in 1900.  Many would think that that was a pretty simple time of life. Then on your 14th birthday, World War I starts, and ends on your 18th birthday. 22 million people perish in that war, including many of your friends who volunteered to defend freedom in Europe.
>>
>>    Later in the year, a Spanish Flu epidemic hits the planet and runs until your 20th birthday. 50 million people die from it in those two years. Yes, 50 million.
>>
>>    On your 29th birthday, the Great Depression begins. Unemployment hits 25%, the World GDP drops 27%. That runs until you are 33. The country nearly collapses along with the world economy. If you were lucky, you had a job that paid $300 a year, a dollar a day.
>>
>>    When you turn 39, World War II starts. You aren't even over the hill yet. And don't try to catch your breath.  If you lived in London England or most of continental Europe,  bombing of your neighbourhood, or invasion of your country by foreign soldiers along with their tank and artillery was a daily event. Thousands of Canadian young men joined the army to defend liberty with their lives.     Between your 39th and 45th birthday, 75 million people perish in the war.
>>
>>    At 50, the Korean War starts. 5 million perish.
>>
>>   At 55 the Vietnam War begins and doesn't end for 20 years. 4 million people perish in that conflict.
>>
>>   On your 62nd birthday there is the Cuban Missile Crisis, a tipping point in the Cold War. Life on our planet, as we know it, could have ended.  Sensible leaders prevented that from happening.
>>
>>   Now, in 2020, we have the COVID-19 pandemic. Thousands have died;  it feels pretty dangerous; and it is!
>>
>>    Now think of everyone on the planet born in 1900. How do you survive all of that?  When you were a kid in 1965 and didn't think your 85 year old grandparent understood how hard school was. And how mean that kid in your class was. Yet they survived through everything listed above.
>>
>>   Perspective is an amazing art. Refined as time goes on, and very very enlightening.
>>
>>   So let's try and keep things in perspective.  Let's be smart, we are all in this together.   Let's help each other out, and we will get through all of this.
>>

Los Angeles Will "Never Be Completely Open Until We Have a Cure." | Frontpagemag

Alternative headline. Mayor of one of nation's largest cities makes shutdown permanent.

In an interview about L.A.'s coronavirus efforts on Good Morning America on Wednesday, the mayor asserted that the city will "never be completely open until we have a cure."

There's no cure or likely to be one. Ever. So this lockdown is permanent now?

Mayor Garcetti decided to roll out an order mandating that everyone wear face masks outside, despite the complete lack of science behind it, even as 80 and 90 degree temperatures roll in.

But wait, he doesn't want to run a police state.

"I don't want to turn Los Angeles into some sort of police state," Garcetti said.

But you know, sometimes slavery is freedom.

"Bring you mask with whenever you leave your home," Garcetti said. "That will help us get more freedoms."

Give up your freedom. That will help you get more freedoms.

"This isn't about government doing something to us," said the mayor. "This is about collective decisions."

Which collective is making these decisions? When do people or you know, the Bill of Rights, get a say in this?

But, to paraphrase Barry, "Government is just another word for collectives making decisions for us. Like ordering us to wear masks forever."

At the end of his prepared remarks, the mayor tried to return to an upbeat tone. "As always," he said, "I send you light and love from the bottom of my heart."

And magic auras. There's only one way this post can end.

Two  Shabbat ago we  read the first Torah portion of the Book of Numbers במדבר - B'midbar (in the desert).  

 

This Torah portion opens with the verse:

 

וַיְדַבֵּר ה' אֶל מֹשֶׁה בְּמִדְבַּר סִינַי 

 

"God spoke to Moses in the Sinai Desert…" (Numbers 1:1)

 

The Midrash questions:
 

Why is it so important for the Torah to specify the location in which God spoke to Moses?

 

 

According to the Midrash, our Sages derive from this detail that three key elements were present when the Torah was given:

 

אש - AISH -  fire

מים - MAYIM- water

מדבר - MIDBAR- desert

 

The Midrash comments:

 

With three elements was the Torah given – with fire, with water and the desert…

 

  • Fire is mentioned in the verse, "All of Mount Sinai was smoking because God descended upon it in fire" (Exodus 19:18).
  • Water is mentioned in the verse, "The heavens dripped with water" (Judges 5:4), which describes the giving of the Torah.
  • And we learn about the desert from the phrase "in the Sinai desert" in this week's portion.

 

What significance to these three elements have, that the Midrash is dwelling upon?

 

The answer is:

 

Just as these three elements are given for free to everyone, so too Torah is given for free. 

 

The Sages teach us also that these three elements are the keys indicating how a person needs to act in his life.

 

Key #1 - Fire – symbolizes enthusiasm in the heart.

 

 

 

Key #2 - Water – symbolizes clarity of thought.

 


 

Key #3 - Desert – symbolizes modesty and contentment with "little".

 

 

 

 

Torah portion B'midbar is read right before the holiday of Shavuot.

 

And on Shavuot, we do not simply commemorate the original acceptance of Torah thousands of years ago, we actually accept the Torah upon ourselves anew.

 

In order to prepare ourselves to receive Torah on this day now, the Torah portion B'midbar gives us the Three Keys that will enable us to succeed in understanding the Torah and its  contemporary meaning.

 

See you tomorrow bli neder We need Moshiach now!

Love Yehuda Lave

Rabbi Yehuda Lave

PO Box 7335, Rehavia Jerusalem 9107202

LIKE TWEET FORWARD

You received this email because you signed up on our website or made purchase from us.

Unsubscribe