Seraphic Secret

Obviously, all the fault of the Zionist enterprise, code for: Jooz.

A popular pastime in Gaza is swapping gruesome footage of dead or dying victims of the Strip's incessant violence.

The images used to be almost exclusive legacies of clashes with Israeli forces but last year that changed. Now being far more keenly traded are snapshots of Palestinian fratricide, gruesome images taken by "militia-cams' that record scenes for posterity.

Spend any time near the emergency ward of Gaza's Shifa Hospital and security staff or ward workers will offer a look at their mobile phones, which they'll quickly switch to video mode to show images of victims of intra-Palestinian clashes being wheeled in agony from ambulances.

Sit in a town square for more than five minutes and you'll be quickly encircled by youths clamouring to outdo each other with images of death and mayhem.

A veritable library of the "intrafada" now exists in Gaza among militias and clans. Most were added during 2007, when the numbers of intra-Palestinian deaths jumped by 800 per cent — from 55 to 439 — almost all of the deaths in Gaza.

Last year was, by any measure, a revolutionary year in Palestinian politics. More than at any time in the previous two decades, the two most dominant political blocs were willing to bid for influence through the barrels of their Kalashnikovs.

Another factor that contributed to the violence, however, was a creeping radical Islamicisation — a small but growing number of youths in Gaza hitching themselves to an al-Qa'ida world view that pitches them against the rest of the Strip and renders, as fair game to be killed, anyone seen as acting "un-Islamicly'.

A spate of so-called honour-killings of women accounted for about 25 per cent of the body count — far higher than any of the years before.

To read the complete article, please click here.

I just noticed that Soccer Dad also covers this story, but he provides some invaluable links which reveal that this gruesome behavior in Gaza has ample precedent in the fratricide-ridden Arab world. What's most shocking is that the Gazans really do blame the Israelis for their own barbaric behavior. A refusal to take responsibility for one's own actions is a sure sign of an immature mind, a degraded society.

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 10:17 AM | Comments (3)

May 20, 2008

Officer Rot in the Unites States Air Force

Introduction

First I'd like to thank Robert for the opportunity to scribble on his page. When you have a writer as accomplished as Robert asking you to fill space on his website... well, that's quite an honor. I'll do my best not to wreck the place.

Robert and I frequently talk military. And as I'm sure you readers already know, Robert is no slouch when it comes to the art of war. Though I grew up a Navy brat, got my degree in military history from an Army college, serve in the USAF, and generally think I know it all, Robert's knowledge frequently humbles me.

Which is why I'm grateful for the opportunity to relay this extension of a chat we had on the general state of things in the USAF.

—A U.S. Air Force Officer

General George C. Marshall (1880 – 1959). Churchill dubbed Marshall “the organizer of victory”. In truth, Marshall made the ally victory inevitable before the war by ridding the army of officers who were wedded to static World War I tactics, and replacing them with officers who understood that the next war would be fast-paced, mobile, and highly mechanized.

Marshall's Men

First, a little history lesson on one of the towering figures of the 20th Century, General George C. Marshall.

You see, it wasn't Patton's tanks or Hap Arnold's bombers or Nimitz's Navy that won World War II. It was a commandant at the Fort Benning Infantry school in the 1930s, then Lt. Col. Marshall, who won the war before it even started.

The US Army in the 1930s was in a sad state of affairs (though the depression was raging, and everything was in a sad state of affairs). But the Army's plague transcended supply issues. After World War I, careerism started to take its heavy toll on the force. Generals advanced cronies who walked like them, talked like them, and thought like them. Those men in turn advanced subordinates who fit their image and likeness, and so the process went.

Think of it as a sort of incestuous breeding process for military leadership.

By the time the mid-1930s rolled around, the Japanese were building carriers and the Nazis were building Tigers and the U.S. Army still training their infantry to fight in trenches and out of static defenses as per the hideous World War I model. We saw which ideology won in 1940. Ever hear of the Maginot Line?

Marshall cleaned shop. He burned the old Infantry School curriculum to the ground and built a new lesson plan out of scratch. The inbred offspring of the careerist generals who fought to defend their old bosses' curriculum were simply removed and replaced. And in what should be the most famous little black book in history, Marshall logged the names of officers who understood that the next war would be a rapid, fast-paced conflict fought largely with war machines.

General Joseph Stillwell (1883 – 1946), best known for his service in Burma and China, Stillwell was nicknamed "Vinergar Joe" because of his blunt honesty. This harsh manner landed Stillwell in political trouble with President Roosevelt when Stillwell repeatedly clashed with America's ally the corrupt Chinese Nationalist General Chiang Kai Chek.

General Omar Bradley (1893 – 1981) was one of the main U.S. Army field commanders in North Africa and Europe during World War II. Journalist Ernie Pyle dubbed Bradley "the soldier's general." Bradley was incredibly polite and unassuming—unlike the more colorful Patton—and never issued an order without saying 'Please' first."

Unfortunately, such change comes at a high cost. Bureaucracies are marked by men who stake out chunks of territory and guard their acquisitions ferociously. The 1930s US Army was no different. What was later called “The Benning Revolution” landed Marshall little praise and a lot of enemies.

So when Brigadier General Marshall was appointed Assistant Chief of Staff in 1938 (another famous General, a John "Black Jack" Pershing got him there), he figured he was at the end of the road. General Aloysius Drum would take over for Malin Craig as Chief of Staff, and Marshall—now out of allies—would be quietly retired.

This, fortunately, was not to be. An influential adviser to President Roosevelt recognized Marshall's potential and spent a year whispering into FDR's ear. Per presidential directive, Marshall was advanced to Chief of Staff of the Army in 1939. He was sworn in on September 1st, 1939.

General Henry "Hap" Arnold, (1886 – 1950) General of the Air Force. The Wright Brothers taught him how to fly. Arnold was one of the first military pilots worldwide. Believe it or not, Arnold suffered from fear of flying early in his career and had to work hard to overcome this phobia. So far, Arnold is the only American to achieve five-star rank in two of its armed services.

General George Patton (1885– 1945). His insistence on aggressive, offensive style combat reflected his deeply held belief that tanks are the Cavalry of modern warfare. Profane, religious, and deeply mystical Patton was a walking mass of contradictions. With all his personal faults, Patton was a tactical genius.

One of Marshall's first order of business was purifying the War Department. Generals were fired. Over 100 colonels retired. The black book materialized, and men—Marshall's Men—were appointed in their steads. Marshall was criticized by Congress for bankrupting the Army of it's "brains." Six years later, there were no complaints. Some of the men promoted under George C. Marshall included Joseph Stillwell, Omar Bradley, Hap Arnold, George Patton, and Dwight Eisenhower—a colonel on Marshall's staff a scant three years before taking his post as Supreme Allied Commander.

General Dwight "Ike" Eisenhower (1890 – 1969) impressed General George Marshall, U.S. Chief of Staff, and a week after Pearl Harbor was recruited to help prepare the plans for war with Japan and Germany. Appointed Supreme Commander of the Allied forces in Europe, Eisenhower shouldered responsibility for planning and supervising the massive and costly invasion of France and Germany.

Marshall's little black book won the war. And it etched in history a lesson that should never be forgotten...

Peacetime leaders make horrible wartime leaders.

It's a generalization, but a generalization that's generally true.

Officer Rot Sets In

Enter today's United States Air Force. The plague of peacetime bureaucracy has set in, and it's set in hard. “Officer rot” is what Robert dubbed it, and I can't think of a better term to describe the disease. Officers are advanced in a system that awards those who clog the service's pipes with new and excessive regulations. Simplicity and speed are downplayed in favor of safer methodologies.

And “safe” is really the word of the day. On my base, the Wing Commander emphasizes—above all else—how DUIs and vehicle accidents are a few notches below the historical average. Commanders are reprimanded if one of their Airman suffers from—God forbid—an accident. The mentality has become so perverse that the Air Force actually seems to believe its leaders capable of preventing accidents from even happening.

Smart people realize that accidents are a statistical certainty.

The Air Force does not.

Now that's a very specific example of a larger problem. And the problem is this: Air Force careerists have made risk aversion their number one priority. "Who dares, wins" has gone the way of the Dodo. Airman and their officers are forced to memorize the Six Steps of Operational Risk Management and are expected to apply to every decision they make, so that risk may be avoided at all cost. Not unnecessary risk, mind-you. Risk. Period.

Risk aversion, as many thinking types know, is a horrible trait in an officer and a leader. World War II was marked by an innovation in military thinking never seen before in the US Military—except when Confederates Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson were engineering innovative ways to kill Union soldiers. Today's Air Force, sans a primary purpose and an identifiable peer competitor, is not forced to think outside the box. In fact, they are so far in the box they probably couldn't find a way out if they tried.

F-22 Raptor

You see it in the news every day. When was the last positive news story that you read about the USAF? It's all negative. How bureaucratic missteps send them down the path of weapons procurement hell. How they banked the future of the service on six-hundred F-22 Raptors, and are now stuck with one-hundred and eighty-five. How the other services are off fighting while the Air Force flies overhead, gobbling resources for hyper-expensive technological weapon platforms while the Army and Marines scream for more armor. And so it goes.

Caught Up in the Wars of Old

When I think of officer rot, I think about Air Force careerists trying to get rid of the A-10 Warthog—arguably the greatest close air support platform ever—in favor of a fast-moving Joint Strike Fighter.

A-10 Warthog

They are so caught up in the wars of old, may God help us if the Chinese make good on their threats to reunify with Taiwan, or if Putin brings back the Russian Empire, or if Kim Jong Il decides he wants a bungalow in Seoul.

I'm an Air Force man and I'm telling it to you as plain as I can. We're screwed. Donezo. Kaput.

Pity, as the USAF would be our front line against any of those scenarios.

The Air Force needs a George C. Marshall. Oh, do they need a Marshall. Someone who gets it. Someone who has the stones to tank a generation of officers who just aren't helping. Someone who understands how to communicate the service's needs, what it can bring to the fight—the Air Force's abilities are unmatched—and someone who will rediscover the service's purpose: to support the infantry.

And I suppose to deter peer/near peer adversaries as well.

But as Marshall said, “The chariot, the longbow, the airplane... all wars in history have been decided by the man standing on the smoking battlefield with a sword in hand.”

Just so. The Air Force exists to support the infantry.

Careerist Air Force officers have it in their head that the infantry supports the Air Force. If you can think of a better way to describe that than rot, I'm all ears.

Don't get me wrong though, folks. When the sun sets I still love my blue suit and love the sound of thundering jets overhead. Love it. But that's why it pains me so much to see a once-proud service fall into disrepair and irrelevance because of cowardly leaders who value their own stinkin' promotions over the good of the service and the good of the country. Some are well-intentioned. Most are just plain arrogant. I see both types every day. It pains me.

And I want it to stop.

George Marshall's graduation photo
from Virginia Military Institute, 1900.

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 12:17 AM | Comments (75)

May 18, 2008

Who's the Jewish Movie Star? Take 5: Answer

Florence Vidor and Ricardo Cortez in The Eagle of the Sea, 1926.

The Jewish movie star is Ricardo Cortez (1899 - 1977) a handsome and talented leading man whose image, in the silent era, was sold to the public as a hot-blooded Latin lover.

In truth, he was Jacob Krantz, born in Vienna, the son of a kosher butcher raised in New York.

We had multiple winners this week, our movie-maven sisters Buttercup and Tamster correctly identified Cortez. After missing out on last week's quiz—Broncho Billy baffled everyone—they are back on course.

Al R., weighed in for the first time—welcome Al—correctly identifying our Jewish movie star.

Long time Seraphic friend, Toronto Pearl at first thought that Florence Vidor was Molly Picon, but then had a change of heart, and not only ID'd Cortez, but is the only reader to correctly identify the film as Eagle of the Sea.

Florence Vidor a beautiful belle from Texas was married to director King Vidor and most definitely was not Jewish. But after divorcing Vidor she married violinist Jasha Heifitz, so there you go—a Jewish connection with our lovely leading lady.

Mazal Tov to all our winners, and to those who didn't guess correctly, thanks so much for participating.

Now, to the reader who responded to our quiz with this charming missive:

“Their (sic) both Jews. Look at their hook Jew noses. You and you're (sic) Hollywood Jews, your (sic) people control Wall Street and we even know that John Mcanes (sic) real name is Rothchild. ”

Sigh.

This is not the correct answer and guess what, not only do we control Wall Street and Hollywood, but we also control the fillings in your teeth. And right at this moment we of the international Zionist conspiracy are shooting hostile laser beams directly into your so-called brain.

Okay, now let's take a look at Jacob/Ricardo.

One of the most interesting glimpses into Cortez's career comes from a 1965 interview Cortez granted to silent film historian Kevin Brownlow that is published in The Parade's Gone By. Brownlow was seeking information regarding director D.W. Griffith. Cortez had starred in Griffith's The Sorrows of Satan (1926).

Said Cortez:

I recall vividly making the The Sorrows of Satan. He [Griffith] took an awfully long time. I went to California for eight weeks and made Eagle of the Sea while he kept going with Lya de Putti, Adolph Menjou, and Carol Dempster.

Griffith was a strange sort of man—very quiet. There seemed to be an invisible barrier around him. You couldn't get near him. I was under the impression that he was a very lonely man—although I got to know him quite well. I felt terribly sorry for him and would visit him at his hotel—the Astor.

He would go out for a walk, and end up at the Pennsylvania railroad station, where he'd sit on a bench and just watch people.

During the making of the picture, I was playing in one of the attic scenes. We'd been working for six weeks, not getting very far, and for just thirty seconds I lost my temper.

He had said, “If you knew anything about acting you wouldn't do that.”

“I don't know a thing about acting,” I snapped, “which was why I wanted to be directed by you.”

Cortez was a leading star for a brief period during the silent era. His dashing good looks and Latin lover image catapulted him into competition with other Latin lovers of the era such as Rudolph Valentino, Ramon Navarro and Antonio Moreno.

In fact, Cortez was chosen to star opposite a new foreign actress studio chief L.B. Mayer brought to MGM and was grooming for stardom—Greta Garbo.

The Torrent, Garbo's first American film, is the only film where Garbo takes second billing, under Ricardo Cortez.

At the time, Cortez, 26, had been working non-stop in the movies for over four years. His stardom was such that he was considered a threat to Valentino. Cortez resented Garbo from the beginning. He was deeply annoyed at being made to star with this chubby “dumb Swede” who barely spoke a word of English.

Ricardo Cortez and Greta Garbo in The Torrent. Cortez treated her with disdain
and she almost sailed back to Sweden in despair.

The Torrent was a hit and Garbo clicked with the public—big time. Garbo never again took second billing, and as we all know, she went on to become the most popular actress in the world. Soon, Garbo had the clout to choose her own leading men, and Cortez never appeared in a Garbo film.

Meanwhile, Cortez was married in 1926 to the deeply troubled actress Alma Rubens. For a brief period, 1910 - 1920 the lovely, wide-eyed Rubens was one of the biggest stars of the silent cinema, but like so many early stars who came from broken homes and impoverished backgrounds, Alma had a self-destructive streak a mile wide. She succumbed to drugs—cocaine and heroin—and her marriage to Cortez was a nightmare roller coaster.

In our profile of Alma Rubens, we quoted from Ruben's lurid but historically important 1930 confessional This Bright World Again, serialized in newspapers and tabloids, in which the bitter actress outed her estranged husband:

Many persons who have followed my career on the screen and stage mistake me for a Jewess. This belief perhaps was strengthened when I married Ricardo Cortez, my third husband, the only one I ever really loved, and whom I am now trying to divorce.

Although I didn't find it out until almost a year after our marriage, Ric, instead of being a gallant Spanish caballero which I believed him, was the son of a kosher butcher, with a shop on First Avenue, New York City. His real name is Jacob Kranz.

Alma Rubens. Her marriage to Cortez lasted a short time.
Rubens was a drug addict given to erratic and violent behavior.
She died in 1931 at age 33, a casualty of narcotics and fast-living.

Obviously, Rubens (her father was probably Jewish) was attempting to damage Cortez's career. But by this time, sound had come in and Cortez, with his unmistakable New York accent, had been carefully shifted by the studios from Latin lover—the public didn't buy that story for long, anyway—into urban leading man roles. And the anti-Semitism that Ruben's felt sure would hurt her husband's Hollywood career never materialized.

Cortez's portrayal of detective Sam Spade in the original Maltese Falcon (1931) is an absolutely stunner. Cortez is far more dangerous and sensual than the lip-curling and deeply mannered Bogart. There's a great moment when Cortez suspects leading lady Bebe Daniels of stealing money and hiding it under her clothing. Casually, with an amused but sharp-as-dagger delivery, he orders Daniels to strip naked. The delight he takes in the bad girl's oh-so-shocked expression is just priceless. He's playing a game with her, but she knows it's a game with deadly consequences. It's a beautifully modulated performance—one minute silken, the next steel—and Cortez is in charge of every inch of the frame.

Ricardo Cortez and Bebe Daniels, The Maltese Falcon, 1931.

On TCM a few months ago, I was very lucky to catch a little known Cortez film, Symphony of Six Million, AKA Melody of Life, (1932). Cortez plays a brilliant Jewish surgeon—is there any other kind—from the lower East Side, who, in his drive to build a “Park Avenue practice” forgets his family and his Jewish roots. Irene Dunne co-stars as Jessica, a girl from the old neighborhood who—get this—walks with a limp and teaches blind children braille. Irene Dunne, with her lilting Kentucky accent, doesn't even try affecting a Jewish accent. I think she sensed it was sort of hopeless. But Dunne doing Jewish—it's priceless.

Keep in mind that Hollywood did not make movies about Jews. Okay, there was The Jazz Singer, (1927) but really Jolson transcended ethnic boundaries. He was an entertainer—in black face.

Ricardo Cortez and Irene Dunne, Symphony of Six Million, 1932.
The title refers to the six million people in New York City, not to the
Holocaust, which had not yet taken place.

The studio heads, all Jewish, fanatically shunned movies with authentic Jewish themes. They were deeply self-conscious about their humble Jewish roots and wanted, more than anything else, to be full fledged Americans. For most Hollywood Jews—and for a vast number of American Jews—this meant shedding their Jewish identity, especially the religious Orthodoxy of their parents.

Which makes this film so unusual. It's the only Hollywood film I have ever seen where a Pidyon Ha-Ben, the Redemption of the First Born ceremony, is enacted. Although some of the Jewish characters are portrayed as stereotypes, as were members of any ethnic group in those days, what's lovely and unique here is that the Jewish characters are depicted as decent, hard-working people struggling upwards in the Goldenah Medinah, the Golden Country. The film comes down squarely on the side of old-fashioned values, where ritual, tradition and loyalty to family and friends take precedence over the blind stampede to assimilation.

Cortez appeared in over 100 films starring opposite Hollywood's greatest leading ladies: Bebe Daniels, Kay Francis, Barbara Stanwyck, Mae Clarke, Mary Astor, Helen Twelvetrees, Joan Crawford, Loretta Young, Carole Lombard, and Bette Davis.

As he aged, Cortez was downgraded from leading man to character actor. His last appearance was in a 1960 episode of Bonanza, El Toro Grande, where Jacob Krantz AKA Ricardo Cortez played—you guessed it—a Mexican, Don Xavier Losaro.

Cortez retired from the screen before he was relegated to a has-been status—smart move—and built a successful career on Wall Street. His many fine performances and long list of credits should afford him a prominent place in the pantheon of great Hollywood actors. But I'm afraid that our celluloid memories are short and Cortez is all but forgotten.

Ricardo's younger brother, Stanislaus, became cinematographer Stanley Cortez, (1908 - 1997) whose best credits include The Magnificent Ambersons (1942), The Night of the Hunter (1955), and The Three Faces of Eve (1957).

Near the end of his career, a Hollywood committee approached Stanley Cortez wishing to honor him as a prominent Hispanic American in the film industry. With some amusement, Cortez explained that he was Stanislaus Krantz—a Jew who felt it would be easier to move upwards in American society as a Hispanic.

Both brothers are buried in Jewish cemeteries.

Poster for The Torrent starring Ricardo Cortez and
Greta Garbo. The only film where Greta Garbo gets
second billing.

Ricardo Cortez: Hollywood's Latin Lover or The Kosher Butcher's Son

Hollywood's First Western Hero: Billy Broncho, A Jewish Kid Who Couldn't Ride a Horse

Sylvia Sidney Replaces Clara Bow

Douglas Sirk Directs Linda Darnell

Less Dialogue is More: Mervyn LeRoy, Vivien Leigh, Robert Taylor and Waterloo Bridge.

Alla Nazimova

Charlton Heston: A Moment of Silence

Lilyan Tashman.

Carmel Myers: The Rabbi's Beautiful Daughter

Colleen Moore: The Stars and Stripes

Colleen Moore's Wedding Night

One Hairstyle, Three Memoirs: Alma Rubens, Colleen Moore, Louise Brooks

Theda Bara: The Vamp Adopts the Troops

Movie Magazines: They Don't Print 'em Like They Used To

Alma Rubens: Dope Fiend, But Not a Jewess

Wallace Reid: Hollywood Shooting Star

Olive Thomas: Hollywood's First Suicide

Mary Pickford: The Greatest Movie Star

Seraphic Secret Chats with Actress Coleen Gray about John Wayne, Howard Hawks, and Stanley Kubrick

Louis B. Mayer Goes to Shul

Susan Peters: The Great Unknown and Tragic Actress

The Blond Machine Gun: Jean Harlow

Peg Entwistle & The Hollywood Sign

Brigitte Bardot & Sean Connery in Shalako—Sorta

Michael Kidd: The Last Dance

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 01:46 PM | Comments (2)

Best of the Jewish Blogosphere #166

Clara Bow says: “Any man that doesn't read Haveil Havalim
brings out the savage in me!”
Still from Call Her Savage, 1932.

Okay, it's live, Haveil Havalim #166, The Mommy Blogger Edition.

Founded by Soccer Dad, Haveil Havalim is a carnival of Jewish blogs — a weekly collection of Jewish & Israeli blog highlights, tidbits and points of interest collected from blogs all around the world. It's hosted by different bloggers each week and coordinated by Jack. The term 'Haveil Havalim,' which means "Vanity of Vanities," is from Qoheleth, (Ecclesiastes) which was written by King Solomon. King Solomon built the Holy Temple in Jerusalem and later on got all bogged down in materialism and other 'excesses' and realized that it was nothing but 'hevel,' or in English, 'vanity.'

This is a particularly fine edition, chock full of must read blog entries. Plus, great pictures of Mommy Blogger's children hard at work helping edit this collection.

We'd like to thank Mommy Blogger for including Seraphic Secret's profile of Hollywood's First Western Hero: Broncho Billy, The Jewish Kid Who Couldn't Ride a Horse.

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 10:44 AM | Comments (0)

May 15, 2008

So Proudly We Hail

Robert and I have been Internet correspondents for some time now. I suggested that he review one of my favorite World War II patriotic tearjerkers, So Proudly We Hail (1943). Robert, very kindly, suggested that I review the movie.

Caution this does CONTAIN SPOILERS!

—Miranda Rose Smith

Veronica Lake, Paulette Goddard and Claudette
Colbert, So Proudly We Hail, 1943.

So Proudly We Hail tells the story of the army nurse corps on Bataan and Corregidor. It stars Claudette Colbert, Paulette Goddard, Veronica Lake, sans peekaboo hairdo, George Reeves and Sonny Tufts. All performances are top-notch.

Shamelessly patriotic, no excuses are made for the enemy, the Japanese. At one point, the nurses have a pet monkey and one nurse cracks,“We called him Tojo, because they looked so alike.”

All through, the picture broods over the threat of what will happen to the nurses if they should fall into the hands of the brutal Japanese.

Veronica Lake as Olivia D'arcy in So Proudly
We Hail, 1943.

The movie is filled with wrenching scenes of friends and lovers parting; the ship leaves Pearl Harbor just before the infamous bombing; the nurses are ordered to evacuate Corregidor, some doomed to wait for the next transport—only there is no next transport.

Nurses with evacuation orders offer to switch places with their friends. Commanding officer Captain “Ma” McGregor (Mary Servoss), who has lost a son in combat, orders her nurses to leave. Then comes the parting of nurse Janet “Davy” Davidson (Claudette Colbert) from Lieutenant John Summers (George Reeves). Davy meets George when he's rescued from a torpedoed ship—she gives him a bath. Talk about meeting cute. At the end of the picture, when John is leaving Corregidor to see if he can hustle up some black market supplies from Mindanao, Davy tells Ma, “I'm going to break regulations big time. I'm going to get married.”

Ma attends the wedding she officially can't know about.

George Reeves and Claudette Colbert find time for love during World War II

There's a heartbreaking scene between flirtatious nurse Joan O'Doul (Paulette Goddard) and "Aw, shucks" leatherneck “Kansas” Walachek (Sonny Tufts.) Kansas tells Joan he is not going to surrender. Presumably he's going to join the Filipino partisans. They embrace. She says, “I thought you were just another guy on the make.” He replies, “I was.”

That's fine screenwriting, from the less-is-more school. Fade to next scene. Hollywood had admirable restraint in those days when romance powered movies instead of brute lust.

Sigh.

The nurses struggle with hunger, sleeplessness, meager supplies, ceaseless bombardments, and strategic withdrawals. Sometimes they give way to bitterness: “We called ourselves the battling orphans of Bataan. No father, no mother, no Uncle Sam.” They wait for convoys of supplies and re-enforcements that never come.

During an evacuation, the nurses hear rifle shots and realize that a Japanese patrol has broken into the base hospital. As they prepare to flee, Joan runs back for her black lace nightgown. She delays the evacuation a fatal few seconds and the nurses are forced to hide. Realizing that the Japs—the politically incorrect word is used throughout the picture. I believe that bad words were made for bad things, and the Japanese Imperial Army was a bad thing—will soon find them and, “Its one of us or all of us.”

Olivia D'arcy (Veronica Lake), whose fiance was killed at Pearl Harbor, hides a grenade in her bosom and goes out to meet the Japs. As the enemy soldiers close in, she pulls the pin. Her sacrifice allows her friends to escape. Later, Joan, unable to sleep, says, “All I do is dream about Olivia,” and she works till she collapses from exhaustion.

The nurses are never portrayed as saints. These characters have complexity, depth. Joan's vanity endangers all her friends—risking life and limb for a frilly nightgown goes beyond fetish—and she is so flirtatious that she has two fiances show up to see her off at the dock. When the nurses learn they are headed for Bataan, they hope for lots of food and a beauty parlor.

These women are strong, courageous, yet they are 100% feminine.

Veronica Lake, Claudette Colbert, director Mark
Sandrich and Paulette Goddard, on the set of
So Proudly We Hail, 1943.

For those of you who pay attention to the liberal mainstream media, which gleefully reports each milestone in the American death toll in Iraq, this motion picture honestly reports that 50,000 men died in the delaying action in the Philippines.

The price of freedom is often tragically high and comes soaked in blood.

So, if you want to know what patriotism, courage, and true faith in the future looks like—remember, the outcome of the war was in doubt in 1943—get the DVD of this powerful and inspirational movie.

They don't make them like they used to.

Miranda Rose Smith is a librarian who lives in Ramat Gan, Israel.

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 07:37 AM | Comments (21)

May 14, 2008

Hamas: We Will Persecute and Burn the Zionists to Eternity

Olmert's peace partners give the official Palestinian Nazi salute.

Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar said Wednesday that a Palestinian state will be established on all of the land of Palestine and not only on parts of it, and that it will include "Jaffa, Lod and Haifa."

Zahar also reiterated Hamas' unwillingness to recognize the State of Israel and said that the group "will continue to persecute the Zionists wherever they are, after we prove that the Zionist army can be defeated — contrary to what was believed in the past, that it is impossible to beat the Zionists."

Speaking in the Gaza Strip, he went on to affirm Palestinian right of return, claiming that the "right of return of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians is closer than ever."

"After we defeat the Zionists we will persecute them… we will persecute them to eternity, and the sun of the freedom and independence of the Palestinians will burn all of the Zionists," he continued.

Original article from The Jerusalem Post.

I have a few questions and observations:

1. Why is this terrorist Jew-hater still alive? One hellfire missile from an Israeli drone will feed hell.

2. Why is Israel supplying fuel, power and medical supplies to Gaza? The Arabs who live in Gaza elected Hamas, thus overwhelmingly endorsing their genocidal program. Gaza shares a border with Egypt. Let the Egyptians supply, no doubt, brilliant medical care to their beloved Arab-Muslim brothers.

3. In the past few days mortars and rockets from Gaza have slaughtered two Israeli citizens, Jimmy Kedoshim, 48 and Shlomit Katz, 70. This morning, a missile from Gaza scored a direct hit on a shopping center in Ashkelon injuring a dozen men, women and children. The rocket was a Grad Missile, designed and brought into Gaza from Persia. It has a larger payload than the Quassam and a range of 12 miles. The technology will only improve. The corrupt PM Olmert has been negotiating with Holocaust denier and terrorist leader Muhamar Abbas. This is not just appeasement, it's self-strangulation on a national level. The first duty of the state is to protect all its citizens—not just the latte sippers in Tel Aviv. Yes, I guarantee, if missiles from Gaza were hitting Tel Aviv, Olmert would invade Gaza faster than he'd take a bribe.

4. Not only is Olmert negotiating with Abbas, but he's been negotiating a cease-fire, in reality a hudna‚ through Egypt, a leaky partner for Israel—with Hamas. This signals to the Arabs that Israel has lost the will to fight. No wonder Hamas boasts of destroying Israel and burning Jews. At this point, Olmert and Livni are no less than enablers of Hamas and all transnational terrorist groups who seek to eliminate Israel and rid the world of Jews.

5. Once again, Seraphic Secret urges Israel to cut all fuel, power and medical supplies to Gaza.

6. Israel should announce that each rocket, mortar and missile from Gaza will be met with an automatic response of ten shells to one. Thus it will be quite clear who is responsible for the rain of destruction.

7. If the attacks from Gaza don't cease within ten days, carpet bombing should commence. The civilian population will be warned in advance so they can make their way to Egypt, into the warm embrace of their generous Arab-Muslim brothers.

8. Gaza is an enemy state and should be treated as such.

9. Olmert is an appeaser and should be recognized as such.

10. If Israel continues with her current policies of appeasement, she will soon be bracketed by an Syrian-Persian controlled Lebanon—a done deal—and Gaza, a proxie for Persia. Israel must act with overwhelming force to short-circuit this Shia terror encirclement, and to reestablish regional deterrence. All else is suicide in slow motion.

11. And unless Israel deals decisively with these barbarians, then Israel will soon be subject to this sub-human jihadist savagery.

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 08:26 AM | Comments (12)

May 13, 2008

Jon Voight Visits Israeli Terror Victims

Photo, Associated Press/Sebastian Scheiner, was taken during Voight's visit with victims of Palestinian rocket attacks.

Have you noticed all the Hollywood stars rushing to Israel on her 60th birthday?

Doesn't your heart swell with pride as Hollywood stars and moguls—many of them Jewish—publicly voice their support for the Jewish State?

Isn't it wonderful how so many Hollywood people are making their way to S'derot to show solidarity with those innocent Jews living under a state of siege?

I'm just messing with your head.

Hollywood couldn't care less.

Hollywood films don't even begin to approach the existential issue of Islamic terrorism.

If you look at Hollywood films, (and many are not) the people who do get harsh treatment are: the American military, American soldiers, Evangelical Christians, Catholics, and of course evil Republicans.

But Islamists who proudly boast of wanting to wipe Israel of the face of the earth are a no-go zone. Muslim cultures that oppress women, homosexuals and religious minorities are also never criticized.

Iran, an imperial, Holocaust denying state, and the world's greatest export of terrorism, is ignored.

No, Hollywood will crank out one loser after another about evil American soldiers in Iraq, or Gitmo, or, sigh, soon to die in your local theaters, Oliver Stone's smear of President Bush.

Not only are the films wretched, but they are washed in red ink.

You'd think the studio heads would notice.

You'd think.

But guess what. Hollywood is so radically leftist in ideology that it continues to produce stinker after stinker knowing that these American-hating films will die at the box office, domestic and foreign.

It's an anti-capitalist mind set that reminds us of the Soviet Politburo. Yes, these people are rigid as calculus in their leftist ideology—thus stockholders suffer and audiences, with alarming regularity, stay home to watch cable television.

Hey, LC on The Hills may have lousy taste in men but she's a solid Republican.

But there is one man who cares, actually he cares a lot more than the current Israeli government which is discussing a hudna with the barbarians when they should be destroying Gaza.

We salute Jon Voight, who, unlike PM Olmert and the criminal appeasers in his government, knows that negotiating with terrorists only invites more terror.

Award-winning American actor Jon Voight has visited Israeli victims of Palestinian militant attacks during a trip to Israel.

In Jerusalem Monday, Voight played with children whose fathers were killed in suicide bombings. He also chatted with a man who lost his legs in an attack. Voight was visibly moved by the visit and said Israel shouldn't negotiate with Palestinian militants. He called the attackers "barbarians" who "spat" on Israeli peacemaking attempts.

To read the complete article, please click here.

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 08:37 AM | Comments (19)

May 12, 2008

The Fleet Positions Itself for War Against Iran

Currently, there is a large U.S. naval deployment that points to a an overwhelming military strike against the Persian nuclear facilities. The carrier rotations indicate a clear tactical pattern for war.

Why now?

Iran will not willingly give up her nuclear ambitions. That much is clear. Iran is intent in spreading its hegemony throughout the region. Currently, she is, through her proxy Hizbullah, in the process of turning Lebanon into another Gaza.

We can assume that America and Israel are sharing intelligence on this operation. The Saudis, who fear and detest the Shia Persians are, no doubt, opening their files on their Muslim brothers. The Gulf Sunnis are as anxious as Israel to defang the Shia Mullahs.

President Bush and his advisers cannot risk an Obama presidency, in effect, a second Jimmy Carter. Obama, an entrenched leftist, is an appeaser. The Persians, and every transnational terrorist movement, would eat him—and us—alive.

Nuclear weapons in the hands of the Mullahs would be a disaster for the region and for the civilized world. President Bush understands the geopolitical implications. And yet the American press yawns in the face of a regime that denies one Holocaust while it promises another.

Six weeks ago, President Bush signed a secret finding authorizing a covert offensive against the Iranian regime that, according to those familiar with its contents, “unprecedented in its scope.”

Bush’s secret directive covers actions across a huge geographic area – from Lebanon to Afghanistan – but is also far more sweeping in the type of actions permitted under its guidelines – up to and including the assassination of targeted officials. This widened scope clears the way, for example, for full support for the military arm of Mujahedin-e Khalq, the cultish Iranian opposition group, despite its enduring position on the State Department’s list of terrorist groups.

Similarly, covert funds can now flow without restriction to Jundullah, or “army of god,” the militant Sunni group in Iranian Baluchistan – just across the Afghan border — whose leader was featured not long ago on Dan Rather Reports cutting his brother in law’s throat.

Other elements that will benefit from U.S. largesse and advice include Iranian Kurdish nationalists, as well the Ahwazi arabs of south west Iran. Further afield, operations against Iran’s Hezbollah allies in Lebanon will be stepped up, along with efforts to destabilize the Syrian regime.

And this:

Our observations regarding developments began back in September of last year, as we began to watch how the rotations would come together for 2008. We have discussed 6+2 strategy for carriers before. The carrier strategy which was enabled by the Fleet Response Plan was designed to insure the Navy has 6 aircraft carriers available within 30 days to anywhere in the world, with 2 more available by 90 days. The theory is that beyond 90 days, the other 2 carriers not conducting a nuclear refueling would be available within 180 days. 6+2 is theory though, it usually involves several of those 6 carriers returning from deployment, thus the 30 day metric.

However, as the rhetoric builds, we observe 6+2 is getting very close to reality. Lets count them down.

Here is the 6 for the 30 day response this summer:

6 & 30 Days:

USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) - Deployed to Gulf

USS George Washington (CVN 73) - Deployed on way to Japan

USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) - Next Atlantic Fleet Carrier to Deploy

USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) - Next Pacific Fleet Carrier to Deploy

USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69) - Surge Atlantic Carrier Behind Roosevelt

USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74) - Surge Pacific Carrier Behind Reagan

2 & 90 Days:

USS Kitty Hawk (CV 63) - Rotating from Japan to San Diego (Currently Deployed)

USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) - Currently Deployed, Returning Home

2 & 180 Days:

USS Enterprise (CVN 65) - 16-month Extended Docking Availability Began April 11th

USS Nimitz (CVN 68) - Currently Deployed, Extended Drydock Availability Begins After Deployment

Nuclear Refueling:

USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) - Unavailable until end of 2008

Check closely, we list both carriers for 60 days as deployed today, plus a 180 day carrier as deployed today. In other words, they won't be unavailable until the Navy decides them to be.

To read the complete article, please click here.

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 09:16 AM | Comments (7)

May 11, 2008

Who's the Jewish Movie Star? Take 4: Answer

The Jewish movie star is Max Aaronson, who changed his name to Gilbert Anderson, and was known to millions of early movie goers as Broncho Billy Anderson .

Yup, the first cowboy hero of the motion pictures was a Jewish kid from Little Rock, Arkansas.

Not one correct guess from dozens of brave attempts from all across the globe.

Not even our champs, movie maven sisters Buttercup and Tamster were able to solve this one.

I admit, this was obscure. Beyond obscure.

Anywhoo. Onward.

Max's father, Henry, was a dry goods salesman and his mother Esther, a mother and homemaker. The family moved to St. Louis Missouri in 1883 and here Max, a teenager, was an office clerk like his brothers Jerome, Edward, and Nathaniel. Max became a cotton-buyer a year later, in partnership with his brother-in-law Louis Roth. But Max was restless, a dreamer—and he was stage struck.

After taking courses in a St. Louis acting school, Max headed for New York City, and with no professional experience headed straight for Broadway. He was a dismal failure, hauled off-stage and fired during his very first appearance.

Theatrical agents had such a low opinion of young Aaronson's talents that one suggested he try the pictures.

This was an insult.

Acting was considered an indecent profession by the general public, but even theater actors looked down on motion picture actors as little better than trash.

To protect his reputation, Max Aaronson, desperate for money and fame, adopted the stage name, Gilbert M. Anderson, and applied to the Edison film studio at 41 East 21st Street, for work.

Anderson appeared in several early films, some lasting just a minute or two.

In October, 1903, Edwin S. Porter began casting a film at the Edison studios. Porter asked Anderson if he could ride a horse. Anderson said yes.

He was lying.

The cast and crew arrived on location. Anderson started to mount up from the wrong side and the horse bucked. Anderson was thrown to the ground.

Max Aaronson AKA Broncho Billy, the first western
movie star.

Porter forgave him and Anderson ended up playing three different roles in The Great Train Robbery: a train robber on foot, a man shot in the back during the robbery, and a tenderfoot in a saloon dancing to gun shots directed at his feet.

The Great Train Robbery opened at Huber's Museum, a grimy vaudeville house on 14th street in New York. After the vaudeville show, when the film was announced to the theater's usual patrons—thieves, prostitutes and drug addicts—the crowd started to drift towards the exit. But then the movie began and the audience was riveted.

Anderson was there: “I've seen some receptions to plays, but I've never seen such a reception to a picture in my life. They got up and shouted and yelled, and then when it was all over they yelled 'Run it again! Run it again!' You couldn't get them out. They sat there two or three times, and finally they put on the lights to chase them out... And I said to myself: that's it; it's going to be the picture business for me.”

The Great Train Robbery, 1903. Just twelve minutes long, this was first western. Some of the scenes were hand-tinted. Director Edwin S. Porter used new cinematic techniques such as cross-cutting between scenes to advance the story and build suspense.

Anderson along with George K. Spoor founded the Chicago-based Essany Studios and there began developing his Broncho Billy character in a series of one-reelers.

The very first film with Gilbert M. Anderson as Broncho Billy was called Broncho Billy's Redemption, 1910.

Here's the synopsis from David Kiehn's Broncho Billy and the Essany Film Company:

Redemption comes to Broncho Billy, a cattle Rustler, when he discovers a young woman and her father unconscious from illness out in the prairie. He decides to take them into town for medical attention, knowing he'll be arrested by the sheriff as an outlaw.

Broncho Billy's Redemption: Jack O'Brien looks at Anderson, hands held up, as Clara Williams is moved to the doctor's office.

Anderson's insistence on plausible Western geography eventually brought Anderson and his crew west to Niles California, a sleepy town near San Francisco. There Anderson built a working studio with full production facilities.

The Niles Essany Studio, 1913.

The Niles Essany scenario department in 1914: George Cantwell and his boss Josephine Rector.

The Niles Essany darkroom. Film was developed in studio.

The Niles Essany editing room. Just benches with rewinds.

Broncho Billy was the mythic westerner—often an an outlaw—with a strong sense of right and wrong.

Millions thrilled to Broncho Billy's adventures, and though Anderson was not handsome or physically imposing, his powerful personality, his insistence on authentic locations, the eternally conflicted hero—moral and physical—plus hair-raising stunts and good triumphing over evil made Broncho Billy the first western movie star.

Anderson, in handcuffs, plays cards with the sheriff, in Broncho Billy's
Double Escape.

Anderson and leading lady Marguerite Clayton in Broncho Billy's Decision.

From Broncho Billy's legacy emerged all subsequent Hollywood Western stars, among them: William S. Hart, Tom Mix, Harry Carey, and of course the greatest western hero of all John Wayne.

Anderson starred and directed his Broncho Billy films from 1910 until 1916. Anderson yearned to expand into feature films, but his partner was wary of this new form, and Essany missed the boat on the public's appetite for feature films.

Anderson had a keen eye for talent and insisted on signing the young English comedian Charlie Chaplin to a contract for the unheard sum of $1,250 per week and a $10,000 bonus. Anderson's partner, George K. Spoor hesitated. He didn't believe any talent was worth that much money, but Anderson persisted and the deal was finalized.

Francis X. Bushman, Charlie Chaplin and G.M. Anderson in Chicago, 1914.

Chaplin's films for Essany went on to become blockbusters—especially “The Tramp,” 1915, the film that ends with the iconic shot of the lonely tramp—back to the camera—sadly shuffling down the road, and then straightening his spine and bravely heading forward to his next adventure.

At Niles, Anderson and Chaplin appeared together in Chaplin’s “The Champion,” released in 1915, the only film in which the two stars appeared together.

Chaplin left Essanay after only one year for The Mutual Film Company where he was offered more money and more creative control. This caused a serious rift between Anderson and Spoor. Anderson wanted to hold onto Chaplin, pay his escalating price, but Spoor was unwilling to enter the bidding war.

After 10 years, and over 1,200 films, Essany closed the Niles studio.

Like so many early film pioneers who could not keep pace with the rapidly changing industry, Anderson drifted from one bad business venture to the next, and was all but forgotten by the business he helped invent. In 1958 Anderson was awarded a special Academy Award as “one of a small group of pioneers whose belief in a new medium, and whose contributions to its development, blazed the trail along which the motion picture has progressed, in their lifetime, from obscurity to world-wide acclaim.”

Unfortunately, Anderson did not attend the ceremony.

Max Aaronson AKA Broncho Billy, passed away at the Academy's Brierwood Convalescent Hospital in 1970. He was 90 years old.

Aaronson, the grandson of a rabbi, never discussed his Jewish roots publicly. And contrary to halacha, Jewish law, he was cremated after death.

The only book about Anderson is David Kiehn's Broncho Billy and the Essany Film Company. This is a fine but rather dry book about a narrow period of Anderson's career. As far as I know there is no biography of Anderson and that is a shame. All the photos and information from this essay are from Kiehn's informative volume.

Broncho Billy: Back in the Saddle in Niles

Broncho Billy DVD: The Son of a Gun

Gilbert M. Anderson IMDb

Broncho Billy: Closeted Jewish Movie Star

Chaplin's Essanay comedies on DVD

Seraphic Secret Hollywood Profiles

Hollywood's First Western Hero, Broncho Billy: A Jewish Kid Who Couldn't Ride a Horse

Sylvia Sidney Replaces Clara Bow

Douglas Sirk Directs Linda Darnell

Less Dialogue is More: Mervyn LeRoy, Vivien Leigh, Robert Taylor and Waterloo Bridge.

Alla Nazimova

Charlton Heston: A Moment of Silence

Lilyan Tashman.

Carmel Myers: The Rabbi's Beautiful Daughter

Colleen Moore: The Stars and Stripes

Colleen Moore's Wedding Night

One Hairstyle, Three Memoirs: Alma Rubens, Colleen Moore, Louise Brooks

Theda Bara: The Vamp Adopts the Troops

Movie Magazines: They Don't Print 'em Like They Used To

Alma Rubens: Dope Fiend, But Not a Jewess

Wallace Reid: Hollywood Shooting Star

Olive Thomas: Hollywood's First Suicide

Mary Pickford: The Greatest Movie Star

Seraphic Secret Chats with Actress Coleen Gray about John Wayne, Howard Hawks, and Stanley Kubrick

Louis B. Mayer Goes to Shul

Susan Peters: The Great Unknown and Tragic Actress

The Blond Machine Gun: Jean Harlow

Peg Entwistle & The Hollywood Sign

Brigitte Bardot & Sean Connery in Shalako—Sorta

Michael Kidd: The Last Dance

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 07:12 AM | Comments (6)

Best of the Jewish Blogosphere # 165

Haveil Havalim #165, “Happy 6oth Birthday Israel” is now live.

We'd like to thank Jack for including Seraphic Secret's 1948, Israel, The Palestinians: The True Story.

This is a fine round-up with an excellent balance of scholarly and deeply personal articles about Eretz Yisroel and her people.

Enjoy.

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 05:05 AM | Comments (0)

May 09, 2008

Who's the Jewish Movie Star? Take 4

This great Jewish movie star wishes Israel a happy 60th Birthday.

Who's the Jewish movie star?

Instead of posting your answer in the comments section, send your guess directly to robert.avrech@gmail.com.

Good luck.

Answer on Sunday.

Karen and I wish all our friends a wonderful miracle in Shabbat .

Here's a photo from the editing dept at MGM during World War II with equipment arranged to look like cannons. Oh, how times have changed.

Seraphic Secret Hollywood Profiles

Sylvia Sidney Replaces Clara Bow

Douglas Sirk Directs Linda Darnell

Less Dialogue is More: Mervyn LeRoy, Vivien Leigh, Robert Taylor and Waterloo Bridge.

Alla Nazimova

Charlton Heston: A Moment of Silence

Lilyan Tashman.

Carmel Myers: The Rabbi's Beautiful Daughter

Colleen Moore: The Stars and Stripes

Colleen Moore's Wedding Night

One Hairstyle, Three Memoirs: Alma Rubens, Colleen Moore, Louise Brooks

Theda Bara: The Vamp Adopts the Troops

Movie Magazines: They Don't Print 'em Like They Used To

Alma Rubens: Dope Fiend, But Not a Jewess

Wallace Reid: Hollywood Shooting Star

Olive Thomas: Hollywood's First Suicide

Mary Pickford: The Greatest Movie Star

Seraphic Secret Chats with Actress Coleen Gray about John Wayne, Howard Hawks, and Stanley Kubrick

Louis B. Mayer Goes to Shul

Susan Peters: The Great Unknown and Tragic Actress

The Blond Machine Gun: Jean Harlow

Peg Entwistle & The Hollywood Sign

Brigitte Bardot & Sean Connery in Shalako—Sorta

Michael Kidd: The Last Dance

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 12:48 AM | Comments (5)

May 08, 2008

The Promise Fulfilled

Painting depicts a number of well known Rabbis from previous generations dancing with Torah scrolls on Simchat Torah — the day of rejoicing with the Torah.

Pictured are:
Rabbi Yakov Yisrael Kanievski (known as the Steipler Gaon)
Rabbi Yitzchak Kaduri
Chacham Yosef Chaim (known as the Ben Ish Chai)
Rabbi Yisrael Abuchatzeira (known as the Baba Sali)

Moses ascended from the plains of Moab, to Mount Nebo, to the summit of the cliff that faces Jericho, and Hashem showed him the entire Land; the Gilead as far as Dan; all of Naphtali, and the land of Ephraim and Manasseh; the entire land of Judah as far as the western sea; the Negev and the plain—the valley of Jericho, city of date palms—as far as Zoar.

And Hashem said to him, “This is the land which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying 'I will give it to your offspring,' I have let you see it with your own eyes, but you shall not cross over to there.”

So Moses, servant to Hashem, died there, in the land of Moab, by the mouth of Hashem. He buried him in the depression, in the land of Moab, opposite Beth-peor, and no one knows his burial place to this day. Moses was one hundred and twenty years old when he died; his eye had not dimmed, and his vigor had not diminished. The children of Israel bewailed Moses in the plains of Moab for thirty days; then the days of tearful mourning for Moses ended.

—Parshat Vezot Haberacha (Deuteronomy) 34, 1 - 8

Rashi, (1040 - 1105) the great French medieval commentator explains: Having blessed the people and prayed for them, Moses, the faithful servant ascended the mountain as he had been commanded (32:49). As he stood there, G-d showed him every part of the Land, the entire panorama of Jewish history that occurred at the places named in the passage. G-d prophetically showed Moses the entire Land of Israel, in its prosperity and under the oppression of future conquerors.

—The Stone Edition, published by Mesorah Publications

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 09:43 AM | Comments (6)

Israel at 60

Paratroopers from various countries, some holding an American flag,
pose for a photo after a practice jump in Palmahim near Tel Aviv.

This from the IDF:

150 Foreign Paratroopers Arrive in Israel for its 60th Celebrations.

On Friday and Saturday 150 foreign paratroopers, representing various armies around the world, arrived in Israel. Amongst them, are paratroopers from the US, England, France, Spain, Germany, Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Singapore, South Africa, Canada, Greece, Italy and Switzerland. The paratroopers arrived in Israel in order to take part in Israel's 60th celebrations and to salute the IDF.

The paratroopers will jump together at the IDF event on Israel Independence Day, May 8th, in which 120 paratroopers will parachute along the beaches of Ashkelon. A rehearsal for this jump will take place on May 5th, at Palmahim beach at 10:00-13:00.

On May 4th, the paratroopers will stay at the IDF Parachuting School. They will formally enter Tel-Nof base at 8:00, where, the senior foreign officers will meet the commander of the parachuting school, Colonel Dror Paltin, and IDF senior officers. Together, the paratroopers will train for the Independence Day event including practices jumps at sea. At 14:30 the Oketz unit will explain their capabilities to the foreign paratroopers. Later on, a ceremony will be held at the IDF Paratroopers Memorial. The ceremony will be military in nature, and the paratroopers will wear their uniforms. The Greek paratroopers will lay a laurels at the memorial. A Dutch paratrooper, Jesper Nels, the grandchild of Righteous Gentiles, will plant an olive tree next to the memorial. Nels will also meet the family of the man that was saved by his grandfather.

On Memorial Day for the fallen, the foreign paratroopers will participate in memorial ceremonies throughout the country including ceremonies in Ashkelon, Yad-Mordechay, Ammunition Hill in Jerusalem and the Latrun site.

In addition they will visit technological farms and will experience the latest technological advances in development of the Negev in Revivim and Sede-Boqer. They will also take part in a jeep tour in the desert. The paratroopers will visit Jerusalem and will follow in the footsteps of the Jerusalem brigade which fought in the Six Day War.

One of the participants, a paratrooper named Yoni, serving in the French Foreign Legion is named after Yoni Netanyahu, the renowned commander who was killed in the famous Entebbe operation. He will fulfill his dream and get the chance to wear the IDF's Paratrooper wings.

Hat Tip: Seraphic Friend, Toronto Pearl

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 07:59 AM | Comments (1)

May 07, 2008

1948, Israel, the Palestinians: The True Story

Not surprisingly the mainstream media is using Israel's 60th birthday as an opportunity to scold Israel for, what else, daring to exist. It seems to Seraphic Secret that the best way of celebrating Israel's miraculous birthday is by publishing this fine article by Efraim Karsh, an article which refutes the endless libels that are hurled against the Jewish State. The most recent libel, a blood libel really, is that the Jewish state, should not be a Jewish state. These liberal-Arab-Peace Now critics gently suggest that the Jewish State should convert to a Whatever Status, which translates into a future Islamic State.

Just what the world needs.

Another happy-go-lucky Islamic fascist regime.

I don't get it. Why don't these critics just pick up and move to beautiful downtown Gaza?

I have another suggestion. Let the 22 members of the Organization of Islamic States give up their identity as Islamic states because as we all know, they are each brutal tyrannies founded on the repression of minority religions, the repression of women, homosexuals, and the complete lack of economic transparency. Oh, and except for Iran each and every Islamic country is Judenrein. It's an open secret that the 30,000 Persian Jews live in utter fear and dhimmitude. Members of my Persian community here in Los Angeles often tell me stories of the every day horrors their relatives endure under the thumb of the Iranian secret police.

Anyway, here's the Karsh article from Commentary Magazine.

Sixty years after its establishment by an internationally recognized act of self-determination, Israel remains the only state in the world that is subjected to a constant outpouring of the most outlandish conspiracy theories and blood libels; whose polic