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March 31, 2009
Iran in the Crosshairs
Israel is sending a clear message to Iran:
1. We are serious about self-defense, even as the rest of the world defaults to Neville Chamberlain mode.
2. Our intelligence services are second to none; we have eyes and ears—literally—on every aspect of your terror operations.
3. Ditto for your nuclear program.
4. The Israeli Air Force can strike anywhere and at anytime with devastating consequences. The IAF refuels in mid-air thus the Nantaz nuclear facility is well within our reach.
5. The Soviet radar defense systems have been fatally compromised.
6. You are toast.
Israeli sources quoted Tuesday by Time Magazine revealed that the January attack on a convoy of trucks carrying weapons bound for Hamas through Sudan was carried out by "dozens of aircraft."According to the sources, the strike consisted of two runs by F-16 bombers, with F-15 fighter planes also on hand in order to provide a quick response in case Sudanese or other enemy aircraft decided to attack the squadron. After the initial bombing run, the sources said, drones flew over and filmed the burning 23-truck convoy. When the footage showed that it had not been completely destroyed, the F-16s were dispatched for a second pass.
The report said that the aircraft refueled over the Red Sea.
Complete story here.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 11:51 AM | Comments (16)
March 30, 2009
Passover: The Exalted Evening
Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, The Rav.
Photo Copyright © Robert J. Avrech. No reproductions
without express permission.
As a child and then as a young man, several times a year, I looked on as my father, Rabbi Abraham Avrech, slowly and very carefully threaded tape through the gears of a massive tape recorder. My father, a Rabbi at Yeshiva University, was not and is not one of those proudly self sufficient men with a prized collection of nifty tools.
So, it always amazed me that it was my father's responsibility to set up the recording device when Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, The Rav, delivered one of his public shiurim, Torah lectures at Yeshiva University. It was a touching experience to watch my father—expression solemn and deeply pained—wrestle with the various temperamental machines. In the end, my father's love of the Rav and his sense of responsibility always triumphed. Somehow, he got those finicky tape recorders to properly function.
When I was older, I accompanied my father to the Rav's s public shiurim—which lasted four hours or more. I remember the sense of anticipation as the hall filled up with 2,000 Torah hungry people. There was an enormous buzz. And then, without introduction, The Rav, tall and dignified, stepped up to the stage. A great hush fell over the audience. I'm talking perfect silence. As a sign of respect, everyone rose to their feet. The Rav sat at a simple table, and sans preamble or clever opening remarks, The Rav dived into his shiur.
For the first ten minutes or so, I understood the Rav's exegesis. But soon enough, the majestic depths of his teaching absolutely buried me. The references came fast and furious—The Rambam, Emanuel Kant, Rabbi Akiva, Hillel, Rashi, Talmud, Greek and German philosophers—and really, after half-an-hour, I had no idea what was going on.
I felt like the dumbest Jewish kid in the galaxy.
Anyhoo:
The Rav's teachings are now being disseminated in written form by his various pupils. And dopey me finally has the chance to sit down, and at my own pace, and my own level—not so high—absorb the teachings of Judaism's great teacher of modern times.
I'm particularly grateful that the OU just published The Seder Night, Exalted Evening: The Passover Haggadah with a commentary based on the teachings of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, edited by Rabbi Menachem D. Genack, for twenty years, a student of The Rav.
The Haggadah is the best selling book in Jewish history. There are thousands of Passover Haggadah's. Every year, as the holiday approaches, the front tables at my local Jewish bookstores groan under the weight of newly published Haggadahs.
Many are just publishing gimmicks with vulgar, politically correct nonsense shoe-horned into the eternal and holy text.
Some are quite excellent.
At our Pesach seder, Ariel ZT'L often used three different Haggadahs plus his own voluminous notes from his Rebbeim at Yeshiva Ner Yisroel.
The Rav's Haggadah is necessary, an invaluable and precious commentary. No Jewish home should be without a copy of this vibrant, profound, and deeply moving Haggadah.
For the past two weeks, I have set aside fifteen minutes every day to study a portion of the Rav's Haggadah. Almost every page causes yours truly to mutter: “I didn't know that.”
This Passover, when Karen and I and our entire family gather to meditate on our bondage and our deliverance from Egypt—yes, we always speak in the present tense for Jewish history is not in the past—I will finally have the opportunity to cease being the dumbest Jewish kid in the galaxy and deliver a few divrei Torah that are reasonably coherent.
To order the Rav's Haggadah, click here.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 09:26 AM | Comments (6)
March 29, 2009
Best of the Jewish Blogosphere #210 Plus Seraphic Simcha
Uncle Walt says: “And if you're good little Mousketeers I'll
let you read Haveil Havalim.”
So: it's Sunday here in Los Angeles. I have three choices:
1. Work on latest script.
2. Clean for Pesach.
3. Read Haveil Havalim #210: Locke, Hurley and Starbuck Edition. Presented this week by our fearless leader Jack
4. Shep nachas (Yiddish: bask in joy) and inform all our friends that Offspring #3 is engaged:-)
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 08:29 AM | Comments (30)
March 27, 2009
Friday Footwear: The Couture, Uzi, and Shoe Goddess Edition
Lunch at Pat's with Florence Azria AKA The Shoe Goddess.
“It is so amazing to meet someone after just knowing them on-line,” says Florence.
Ah, that lilting French accent, for Florence is originally from Paris. I feel just like Gene Kelly in An American in Paris.
Florence does not lean in for a Hollywood style kiss. She knows that I'm orthodox and doesn't want to embarrass me with inappropriate behavior.
“My family is originally from Morocco. My father fought in Israel's War of Independence.”
Backstory: a few weeks ago Karen's favorite boots were stolen from the gym where she exercises. Yes, that's right, women—and we know who did the deed—actually steal footwear.
The boots that started it all.
We try to locate a new pair, but no success.
Refusing to accept defeat, I Google like mad and end up on Florence's website: The Shoe Goddess.
Light bulb over head.
Maybe Shoe Goddess will be able to help.
So: I fire off a desperate e-mail seeking advice, information, Sherlock style clues. The Shoe Goddess quickly responds. Shoe Goddess is very sorry but even she is unable to find the boots or the manufacturer.
Oh, well.
In appreciation for her kind efforts, I send Florence a Friday Footwear post. Florence tells me how much she enjoys my writing. The e-mails fly back and forth. Before you know it, we are cyber friends, brought together by, um, footwear. But Judaism is the mortar of the relationship.
Florence extends sincere condolences on the loss of Ariel ZT'L .
Several years ago, Florence had a brush with cancer. Once finished with the chemotherapy, she had an epiphany and vowed to change her priorities and give back to her new home, Los Angeles. Now, Florence is involved with A Place Called Home, a local organization that seeks to rescue kids from gangs. All the advertising proceeds from Shoe Goddess go directly to the charity.
Just the other day, The Wall Street Journal did a piece on Florence. And Women's Wear Daily, the bible of the fashion world, also covered Florence's charity work..
Meet Florence, The Shoe Goddess, in her beyond cute
Lanvin pumps.
In Pat's, a prominent Rabbi stops by our table to schmooze. After a few seconds, I begin to suspect that Prominent Rabbi spotted yours truly with a beautiful and stylish woman—not the love of my life—and he's checking out the situation.
I may reside in Los Angeles, but I live in a shtetl.
Soon, Karen joins us for coffee—hush, hush sweet yentas—and our conversation ranges far and wide. Florence's Sephardic heritage, of which she is fiercely proud, has given her a rock-solid love of Judaism. She speaks in glowing terms of her Kabbalistically inclined mother. Her voice drops a few notches as she remembers the untimely death of her proud father.
Finally, we get down to her really great pumps.
“They are Lanvin, designed by Alber Elbaz, the only fashion designer who can field strip an Uzi.”
I'm like: “Wha?”
“Alber is Israeli, born in Morocco. He served in the Israeli army.”
Oh.
My.
Gosh.
I turn to Karen: “I knew there was a reason I admired Lanvin's Fall collection so much.”
Hmm, if this gets out, leftie lunatics will boycott Lanvin.
Oh, wait, they're mostly a bunch of ill-bred, and very poorly dressed knuckleheads.
Alber Elbez, IDF veteran, Lanvin's
guiding hand.
Florence's Lanvin pumps speak with smooth authority. The denim blue is a wink towards the ruggedly casual, but the blond wooden heels reference the Arts & Crafts Movement where elegant and functional simplicity is celebrated. These pumps exclaim: “I am sassy as Joan Blondell sprinkled with the soft as silk Sylvia Sydney. Mixed together I am empowered. Voila.”
Florence believes we were brought together for a reason: “It is,” she says, “a sign that I should learn Torah.”
And so we have come full circle: Karen's boots are stolen, but the end result is a spiritual awakening.
There are worlds within worlds.
Robert's saddle shoes say hello, bonjour, and shalom to Florence's Lanvin pumps.
Karen and I wish all our friends and relatives a miracle in Shabbos.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 12:47 AM | Comments (12)
March 26, 2009
Obama's Surrender
This is not a picture of a Taliban terrorist.
Good news, the war on radical Islamic is over.
Yup, the Obama administration now informs us that our armed forces are in the midst of, get this,Overseas Contingency Operations.
Now, this should be no surprise for as George Orwell correctly predicted in his novel 1984, a meditation on Communist totalitarian rule, the left is adept at murdering language and meaning.
A few days ago, Homeland Security Tzarina Janet Napolitano declared—with a straight face—that there are no terrorists or terrorist acts, instead there are Man Caused Disasters.
And hey, in Obamanation, no more enemy combatants.
Andrew Breitbart, founder of Big Hollywood, correctly labels this flight from reality as: cultural Marxism.
Remember:
Life and death lie in the power of the tongue.
—Mishlei: 18: 21
Obama and his minions are in the midst of the largest government expansion in American history; his economic policies—soft Socialism in action—are going to bankrupt America through massive spending programs—not a hint of stimulus—and this President is going to get us killed through a combination of naivete, and the sincere liberal belief that all differences are, ahem, unfortunate misunderstandings that can be ironed out.
Believe me, the Islamic terrorists understand us just perfectly, and that's why they want to destroy us.
But Obama, his loyal teleprompter—Don't Leave Home Without One—and our chattering classes don't have a clue as to the true genocidal nature of radical Islam and such willful ignorance can, unless corrected, prove fatal.
It is clear that after only nine weeks in power, President Obama is embarked on a dramatic reorientation, or should I say about face, of American foreign policy in the direction of appeasement of our enemies and indifference or worse toward our friends, something we last saw under Jimmy Carter.
Take Obama’s eagerness to talk to those that don’t want to talk to us like the mullahs in Tehran, the decision to steer $900 million to Gaza, which, whatever the spin, means Hamas, and new efforts to appease Putin by reneging on our missile defense commitments to the Eastern Europeans, to name just a few examples.
Full story here..
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 08:46 AM | Comments (2)
March 25, 2009
The Miracle of Israel
Karen and I recently screened Rabbi Berel Wein's documentary Faith and Fate: The Miracle of Israel, Part Six of a groundbreaking film series on the history of the Jewish people in the 20th Century.
We say groundbreaking because Rabbi Wein, an eminent Torah scholar and historian, sees Jewish history through the prism of, well, Judaism. Rabbi Wein understands that history is not a random series of arbitrary events, but an interlocking puzzle that is guided by the finger of G-d. Thus the title: The Miracle of Israel.
For the rebirth of the Jewish homeland is nothing less than a miracle, as is the very survival of the Jewish people through centuries of persecution.
Karen and I were transfixed by this amazing documentary. Every few minutes we would turn to each other and exclaim: “I didn't know that, did you?”
And we are pretty well informed about Israel and Jewish history.
For us, the most moving parts of the documentary are the testimonies of Holocaust survivors, men and women who endured hell on earth, then went on to help found the modern state of Israel.
The documentary covers the two great events in recent Jewish history: The Holocaust and the struggle and birth of the modern state of Israel.
To quote from Rabbi Wein's synopsis:
When the American soldiers discovered the “Jewish graveyard” left by the Nazis in Europe - as well as the survivors of the concentration camps, they were unprepared for what they saw and shocked by what they found. The surviving Jews had no homes to return to, little or no family remaining and were suffering in dire poverty. The Sephardic as well as the Ashkenazic Jewish communities of Europe were gone. Looking back, they and their communities were devastated, and looking forward, the challenges seemed insurmountable.
The film explores the remarkable determination that the survivors had to rebuild their lives. It also explores their faith during and after the Holocaust. For the many of survivors, the Zionist dream of a Jewish homeland was their anchor of hope. For others, it was their determination to rebuild their lives with material security and safety. And yet for others, the faith that had sustained them through their darkest days, became the building block of re-creating a Torah life - wherever they could. For example, the communities of the Chassidic dynasties such as Sanz, Bobov, Satmar and the Torah institutions and communities of Ponevich, Mir, Telze, just to name a few.
We highly recommend this film. In fact, the entire series is simply magnificent.
This 2 CD set includes:
• 110-minute historic DVD of the dramatic events as they unfolded
• Rarely seen photos from private collections
• Narration and explanation to put the events in the broader context of Jewish history
• Original sound track & special effects
• Ability to navigate through the DVD to focus on the events of your choosing
• Downloadable & printable photo archives
• 26 downloadable videos
• Biographies to copy & paste
• Quick-Read summaries
• Jewish Family Tree tools & resources
• Additional Resource Listings for more information
To order the film, head on over here.
Full Disclosure: Rabbi Berel Wein and I are friends. In fact, I wrote an animated movie about the great Jewish sage Maimonides for Rabbi Wein's film series. However, if I did not like this film, I would simply not review it. The policy at Seraphic Secret is only to review books, movies—whatever—that we admire. Writing snarky reviews is simply too easy and wasteful. So rest assured that when we hand out a good review, it is richly deserved.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 09:18 AM | Comments (8)
March 24, 2009
Hollywood is Burning, Part III: Gauntlet
The torture of Reginald Denny.
“We had no orders except to hold our ground and whenever possible to attack—always attack.”
All this whips through my mind as I aim our car—I’m already thinking of the Lexus as a tank, a Centurion—towards the exit of the parking garage. A knot of rioters are milling about at the exit. It’s hard to see clearly but, oh boy, it looks like a few of them are brandishing baseball bats.
I’m gonna make a wild guess and assume that they’re not Little League dads.
I haven’t turned on the car’s headlights. We’re still lurking in the shadows, not yet detected by the barbarians.
Good thing the car is fashionably black.
Karen says: “Maybe there’s another exit.”
“Nope.”
“How do you know?”
“DGA building. I’ve been here like a zillion times.”
“What are we going to do?”
We.
The Talmud teaches that when a husband or wife uses the collective we it means there is love in the relationship.
Is there a finer way to enter battle than with the woman I have been in love with since third grade?
To read the final chapter of my account of the 1992 Los Angeles riots, please head on over to Big Hollywood.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 09:27 AM | Comments (3)
March 23, 2009
Kuwait: Yearning for Mass Murder
H/T David Suissa
As you watch this video, keep the following in mind:
1. Al Jazeera, the TV station that broadcast this murderous filth is state owned, thus the message has been vetted and approved by the government of Qatar.
2. Qatar is considered a moderate Arab/Muslim state.
3. To this designation, the mind reels.
4. No doubt the inept President Obama will soon appear on Kuwaiti late night television to soothe their, um, genocidal dreams.
5. Or maybe send them a home made video wishing them a happy something or other. Because the message to Iran was so well received.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 09:13 AM | Comments (5)
March 20, 2009
Best of the Jewish Blogosphere #209 Plus Ricky Nelson
I need a break.
This week Karen and I gagged as President Barack Obama degraded the office by appearing on the Jay Leno Show.
The MSM called the appearance “historic.”
We see it as further evidence that President Obama has not a clue as to the gravity of his job.
This week we saw Congress—a den of hypocrites—illegally taxing American citizens. The lynch mob led by non other than President Barack Obama. Hey, we're getting to be like one of those banana republics! Even Jay Leno—not exactly Bill O'Reilly— called Obama on this outrage and Obama, after a station break, didn't even have the decency to answer the question. He just did his hope n' change ramble. Disgraceful.
This week Barack Obama made further moves to transform America into a socialist state.
This week Barak Obama further legitimized the Holocaust-denying, Holocaust-yearning Iranian regime with a dopey and condescending home video. Naturally, the Mullahs immediately recognized the abject dhimmitude in Obama's fuzzy-wuzzy message and told him to get stuffed.
This week, Bibi Netanyahu, acutely aware of Obama's, er, naivete in matters Islamic, appointed a new defense minister: Moshe “Boogie” Ya’alon, 58, former chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces. Note: Ya'alon, sanely hawkish, has been warning about the Persian bomb for a long time. Almost certainly within the next year or so, Israel will tell Obama to interface with his beloved teleprompter while the adults take care of the Iranian problem.
So yeah, we need a break.
How about a blast from the past?
It is 1963, and Ricky Nelson is singing “I Will Follow You.”
I was thirteen years old when this song was released and I remember thinking: I will follow Karen.
Enjoy.
And now, to keep you occupied for the rest of the day, What War Zone presents: Haveil Havalim #209 Ahhhhh......Spring!
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 04:48 PM | Comments (11)
Friday Footwear: Ma'ayan Ariel Loafs Around
Ma'ayan Ariel's red loafers.
Last week Karen and I joined family and friends in Teaneck, N.J., for Ma'ayan Ariel's first birthday party. One of the gifts—not from yours truly—was a pair of loafers, blazing red shoes. Ma'ayan Ariel slipped them on and studied them for a few moments, then pulled them off and tried to chew them. The traditional method used by native Americans to soften their deerskin moccasins.
Ma'ayan Ariel is a lovely and cheerful little girl. Her smile is radiant and her good nature shines through. Though she does not yet talk, she verbalizes all the time with a variety of sounds. Ma'ayan Ariel's mother, Offspring #2, has taught Ma'ayan Ariel baby sign language that greatly aids communication. How cute is it when Ma'ayan Ariel signs that she's hungry by bringing her little fist to her mouth?
Ma'yan Ariel wishes all our friends and relatives a miracle in Shabbos.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 09:26 AM | Comments (11)
March 19, 2009
Nuanced Language to the Rescue: Man-Caused Disasters
Man-Caused disasters in training.
The German magazine, Der Spiegel, conducted an interview with Janet Napolitano, Obama's pick for Secretary of Homeland Security.
Spiegel: Madame Secretary, in your first testimony to the US Congress as Homeland Security Secretary you never mentioned the word "terrorism." Does Islamist terrorism suddenly no longer pose a threat to your country?
Napolitano: Of course it does. I presume there is always a threat from terrorism. In my speech, although I did not use the word "terrorism," I referred to "man-caused" disasters. That is perhaps only a nuance, but it demonstrates that we want to move away from the politics of fear toward a policy of being prepared for all risks that can occur.
Is this just a matter of semantics?
No, not really. Her terminology—Orwellian is too kind a term—is a signal that the inept Obama administration not only refuses to identify Islamic terror as the enemy of civilization, but puts us all on notice that terror is not really, er terror. There are just some annoying disasters brought about by unknown homo sapiens.
I have news for President Barack Obama and an administration that seems more suited to high school student council: The radical Islamic world declared jihad against the West in 1979, and has been waging this war—with maximum cruelty—ever since.
If you cannot even name the enemy then you are either a fool or an enabler of terror.
Let's quote from Sun Tzu's The Art of War:
If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.
Obama and co. are going to get us killed.
Soccer Dad provides more food for thought on this story.
Meanwhile, let's hear from President Obama's teleprompter. He never leaves anywhere without it. Pathetic, yet LOL funny.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 09:17 AM | Comments (22)
March 18, 2009
Stunning News: Obama Gets Even Cozier with Jew-haters
(Top left clockwise) Barack and Michelle Obama and radical Leftist anti-Israel Professor Edward Said at a May 1998 Arab community event in Chicago at which Edward Said gave the keynote speech. (Bill Baar's West Side), Former PLO operative and close friend of the Obama's Rashid Khalidi, Barack Obama and his racist minister Jeremiah Wright, and close terrorist friend William Ayers. h/t Gateway Pundit.
Let's review:
1. President Obama spent over 20-years as a proud member of a Jew and America hating church. A church that honored the well known Jew-hater Louis Farrakhan.
2. President Obama was bestest friends with American terrorist and virulent anti-Israeli trust fund baby, Bill Ayres.
3. President Obama also cultivated a more than cozy relationship with prominent Arab Muslim Jew-hater Rhashid Khalidi.
4. Since coming into office President Obama has appointed Susan Rice, and Samantha Power to positions of power. Neither woman has any affection for Israel whatsoever. Obama also tried to appoint Chas Freeman, a genuine Saudi and Chinese agent, to the sensitive post of Chairman of the National Intelligence Council.
5. So why would anyone be surprised that Obama is realigning American foreign policy away from Israel and towards the terrorist saturated Arab Muslim world. Syria, a rogue state that murders every Lebanese politician who tries to get out from under Syria domination, is now high on Obama's list of potential close allies. It's like declaring that The Crips or The Bloods are actually really sweet guys.
6. Seraphic Secret pointed out, before the elections, that Barack Obama could not be trusted as a reliable ally to Israel, hence he could not be trusted to be a custodian of American power.
7. Nevertheless, American Jews voted for this man in overwhelming numbers.
8. The excuse being that there is no difference between Republicans and Democrats.
9. Which is demonstrably false.
10. Seraphic Secret predicted that Barack Obama would emerge as Jimmy Carter II.
11. We were wrong.
12. Barack Obama is far worse.
13. Netanyahu will have to stand up not only to a bunch of lunatic, genocidal Muslims, Shia and Sunni, but to a newly hostile and clueless White House.
14. America is screwed. A trillion times over.
15. But the genocidal mullahs in Iran are happy puppies.
On March 12, [IDF Chief of Staff] Ashkenazi left for a five-day visit to the United States meant to lobby the Obama administration to abandon the planned U.S. dialogue with Iran. Ashkenazi, scheduled to meet with the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee, was expected to have brought new Israeli intelligence on Iran's nuclear weapons and missile programs.
But the diplomatic sources said the administration made it clear that nobody in a policy-making position was available to sit with Ashkenazi. This included the president, Vice President Joseph Biden, Gates, National Intelligence director Dennis Blair or Mullen.
Ashkenazi has obtained a meeting with National Security Advisor James Jones. But the sources said the meeting would focus on U.S. demands for Israel to ease military restrictions in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
"The Obama administration believes that Israel is as much or more of a problem as it is an ally, at least until Israel's disagreements with its neighbors are resolved," former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton, said.
Bolton envisioned that the White House would pressure Israel to legitimize Hamas and Hizbullah. At the same time, he said, Obama would continue to woo Iran.
Complete article, here.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 09:18 AM | Comments (24)
March 17, 2009
Hollywood is Burning, Part II: Get-a-Way
I have to protect my family.
In my pocket, as always, a little Swiss Army Knife.
“I’ve never yet seen an eyeball who felt that the Swiss Army Knife was not a dangerous weapon.”
This charming and somewhat gruesome comment, advice really, was given to me by my Israeli buddy, a grizzled tank commander who, one drunken evening, cheerily listed for yours truly all the common, everyday objects that have lethal potential. My friend was a big fan of the ordinary Swiss Army Knife and its zillions of nifty attachments.
So: it is pitch black, rioters are gathering outside the DGA building, and to make matters even worse, women and children in the lobby are yelling, sobbing—every moist and yucky sound imaginable—in panic.
I feel like announcing:
“People, shrieking does not help. Really it doesn’t.”
But, why bother? It’s a mob mentality and there is no reasoning with such people. Unless maybe you’re Gregory Peck in To Kill a Mockingbird.
Which I am not.
Anyhoo.
I’m busy formulating a plan, trying to figure out a way to escape this building before the rioters break in, before they figure out a way of crashing through one of the numerous doors.
To read the complete chapter, my account of the 1992 Los Angeles riots, head on over to Big Hollywood.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 08:49 AM | Comments (7)
March 16, 2009
Hollywood: The Head Game
After shul this past Shabbos in Teaneck, as I stood in the lobby chatting with friends, I once again noticed the amazing variety of hats worn by religious Jewish women.
Once upon a time In Hollywood, women proudly posed in glorious head gear.
Good times, good times.
Herewith, some stylish hats on some stylish Hollywood stars.
Norma Shearer loved her hats, and check out the
excellent brogues.
Carole Lombard sports a yeshivish/alpine look.
Lilyan Tashman was considered the most stylish
lady in Hollywood.
Fay Wray looks ready for a picnic in the Catskills.
Even Audrey Hepburn is having trouble pulling off
this look.
Ava Gardner in the best hat evuh.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 10:05 AM | Comments (10)
March 13, 2009
Friday Footwear: Karen Buckles Down Edition
Fashionable English ladies, 1780. Notice the shoe buckles.
“I'm in Loehmann's.”
“Great, any cute shoes?”
“Didn't you get the pictures I sent?”
I check the inbox on my phone:
“Nope, nothing.”
“Well anyway, there are two pairs I really like and just I can't decide.”
“Describe the little beauties.”
“Oh, well, I dunno... Okay: the first are Calvin Klein's, sort of silver, no maybe pewter—”
“Like the color of a gun?”
Karen ignores this, recognizing that I'm kind of dopey when it comes to firearms and footwear.
“And they have a really beautiful silver buckle across the toe.”
"Buckles are excellent.”
“And the second pair are made by, uh, lemme take a look: Me Too—never heard of them—simple black ballet flats, but really cute patent leather with a nice bow.”
"Bows are also excellent.”
"But I'm really not doing them justice.You need to see them.”
Karen's Calvin Klein buckle flats. Definitely pewter.
The first shoe buckles, simple and functional, were worn by men during the 1660's. But Louis XIV, The Sun King, saw a golden opportunity to make a statement of wealth and privilege. In 1685 the King ordered a pair of diamond encrusted shoe buckles for 351,258 livres, which, I assume, was a great deal of money.
Naturally, women jealously evaluated the King's uber-fashionable footwear and wanted a piece of the sartorial action. Between 1760 and 1780 fashion conscious women in France, England, Germany and Italy, en masse, snipped off the silk ribbons on their shoes and replaced them with fancy-shmancy buckles. Soon, buckles turned into enormous and hugely expensive pieces of jewelry that signaled the wearer's pecking order in high society.
Drama ensued as some of the more, er, upright members of society viewed buckles as a sure sign of decadence.
From a 1693 British pamphlet:
Ribbons, however, are more proper and modest than these gaudy new closures, which, moreover, make them suffer as they irritate the bones of the vain ones, which should quickly make them repent their exhibitionism and their extravagant ideas. Let us sincerely hope that all sensible persons with strong notions of honour will abstain from the usage of these vulgar ornaments. It is up to all fathers to solemnly warn their young that such ostentation is forbidden by Holy Scripture.
Naturally, after such pious warnings, buckles became more popular than evuh!
These days, the buckle on woman's footwear rarely serves a utilitarian purpose. No, the modern buckle is a phantom limb, a remembrance of footwear past, a time when kings and queens paraded through immense palaces in shoes crowned with diamond encrusted gold buckles—while outside, the peasants went barefoot.
Not surprisingly, the glorious age of buckles came to an end with the French Revolution when all deputies gave up their gold buckles for the benefit of the national treasury.
But now, Karen proudly wear shoes with buckles, for the footwear of aristocrats has filtered down society's ladder, and all women feel like queens and princesses.
Oh yeah, Karen also purchased the patent leather ballet flats, because, well, they are labeled: Me Too.
Karen and I are now in Teaneck, N.J., to help celebrate the first year birthday of our granddaughter Ma'ayan Ariel. We wish all our friends and relatives a lovely and meaningful Shabbat.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 12:31 AM | Comments (13)
March 11, 2009
The British Fight Back
Seraphic Secret has expressed deep concern about England's spineless policies towards its radical Muslim population. The Jew-hating Caliphite Muslims grow bolder, their language more virulent with each passing day, and the British government hunkers down behind politically correct pronouncements and self-destructive policies of appeasement.
But, as several British subjects have told Seraphic Secret, there is a disconnect between the chattering classes and the British people.
When radical Muslims heaped abuse on British soldiers returning from Iraq, the British people responded:
A home-coming march by soldiers returning from Iraq has been marred by ugly scenes after Muslim anti-war protesters hurled abuse at the parade.
Around 20 men in Islamic dress held up banners and placards saying 'Anglian Soldiers Butchers of Basra'', 'Anglian Soldiers Criminals, Murderers Terrorists' and 'Baby killers.'
The protest took place as 200 soldiers from 2nd Battalion The Royal Anglian Regiment, known as the Poachers, paraded through Luton.
Riot police were forced to intervene when a number of locals, waving St George's flags then turned on the protesters shouting 'scum" and 'no surrender to the Taliban' .
Police dogs and riot vans were also called to the scene to keep the two sides apart.
Luton's Mayor Councillor Lakhbir Singh said: 'The Royal Anglian Regiment was given freedom of the town some years ago and we are proud to welcome them back.'
The home-coming march was led by a military band through Luton to mark their return home from a second six-month tour of Iraq in two years.
The 2nd Battalion, The Royal Anglian Regiment, 'The Poachers' are a light role Infantry Battalion based in Celle in Northern Germany as part of 7th Armoured Brigade, 'The Desert Rats.
Full story here.
This is a clip of British citizens turning, with righteous anger, on the radical Muslims. Hopefully, what we're seeing is a revival of the great fighting spirit that animated this people to resist Nazi Germany when the rest of the world lay supine. Let's roll the videotape:
And speaking of terrorist enablers, Chas Freeman, the Saudi and Chinese dupe Obama nominated—oh yeah, Obama's Israel's friend—as Director of The National Intelligence Council, blames the Jooz. What a shock.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 10:05 AM | Comments (31)
March 10, 2009
Hollywood is Burning, Part I: Trapped
Not special effects. L.A. burns.
Hollywood is burning.
Karen and I lock every door in the house, shut tight the windows, we move through the house switching off all the lights.
Gazing from our bedroom window, we watch orange flames lick at the darkness, pillars of black smoke climbing into the sky. We can actually smell the acrid odor of burning rubber.
“Look how close they are,” says Karen.
“Just past La Cienega. Maybe eight blocks away.”
Karen gives me a long penetrating gaze:
“What do we do if they come here?”
My mind is racing away. The truth is, we are defenseless. Unless I get crazy inventive like Dustin Hoffman in Straw Dogs.
“After this is all over,” I vow, “I’m going to buy a pistol.”
Karen says: “How about a shotgun?”
To read the complete story, please head on over to Big Hollywood.
Karen and I wish all our friends a happy and joyous Purim.
And in honor of Purim, Muslims desecrate holy Jewish texts in the Tomb of the Patriarchs.
Hey, I have a novel idea: let's divide Jerusalem.
What could possibly go wrong?
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 07:35 AM | Comments (9)
March 09, 2009
The Old New Genocidal Persian Threat
Today is Ta'anit Esther, the Fast of Esther. And tonight begins the joyous holiday of Purim where we read Megillat Esther, The Scroll of Esther, the story of the rescue of the Persian Jewish community from genocide.
History is a wheel, a giant wheel that slowly turns, revealing historical patterns that should, by now, be easy to recognize.
Sadly, too many refuse to acknowledge obvious patterns, thus evil is enabled and it spreads like a virus.
Once again, Jews are threatened by genocide from the Persians.
Once again, the world turns a blind eye, thus giving legitimacy to this Jew-hating totalitarian regime.
Once again the Jews are alone—Obama is less than useless, he's part of the problem—and will have to deal with the Persian threat.
In the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar, on its thirteenth day ... on the day that the enemies of the Jews were expected to prevail over them, it was turned about: the Jews prevailed over their adversaries.
—Esther 9:1
Karen and I wish all our friends and relatives a meaningful fast and a happy Purim.
The complete story of Purim here.
And hey, it's time for you to join The Tea Party.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 08:36 AM | Comments (13)
March 08, 2009
Best of the Jewish Blogosphere #207
Fay Wray says: “My first husband, screenwriter John Monk Saunders was a drunk, a drug addict, a womanizer and a Jew-hater. So it stands to reason that my next two husbands, screenwriter Robert Riskin and Dr. Sandy Rothenberg were wonderful Jewish men.”
The Real Shliach hosts Haveil Havalim #207. No doubt, Fay would approve.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 10:26 AM | Comments (0)
March 06, 2009
Friday Footwear: The Saddle-Up Edition
Brooklyn, 1957.
My mother and I are walking along Coney Island Avene and Ave. J. I need a new pair of shoes. In the window of the shoe store my gaze hits the black and white saddle shoes.
I want those,” I chirp.
My mother says: “We'll see.”
Inside, the shoe salesman, my mortal enemy—“They'll stretch out with wear, not to worry!”—shoe horns my feet into the pliable saddle shoes.
I look down and smile because I look just like the big kids in the movies, those impossibly handsome and free-wheeling teenage boys who dance in coffee shops with pony-tailed “chicks” in poodle skirts and bobby sox. After several fortifying milk shakes, the whole gang jump into sleek convertibles, zoom down to Zuma Beach and ride the waves.
Bill Haley and His Comets rock the sound track.
My mother asks: “How much?”
The salesman looks at the box and tells her the price.
Over ten dollars.
My mother says: “They're not practical anyway, Robert. The white will scuff.”
As G-d is my witness, someday I'll have enough money to buy saddle shoes!
At last, yours truly has kept his vow.
Karen and I wish all our friends and relatives a lovely and miraculous Shabbat.
The best source for Saddle shoes in the known galaxy is Muffy's. This family business stocks an amazing variety of styles and colors—some exclusive to Muffy's—for men and women, and their prices are excellent, though still over ten dollars. Saddle shoe heaven.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 07:38 AM | Comments (25)
March 05, 2009
10,000 Violent Women and One Screenwriter, Final Chapter
“My ladies will probably try and slip you some letters, ask you to mail them on the outside. Do not do that. It is contraband, you hear me?”
“Yes.”
“One or two might try and hug you goodbye, in that hug, there might be an inappropriate touch. Resist the temptation.”
“Yes, M’am.”
It’s my last day as visitor slash researcher in the prison. I’m being debriefed by the Supervisor, a tough, no-nonsense lady who still manages to retain her femininity—and sense of humor.
“You got what you wanted?”
“Yes, thank you. Can I ask you a few questions?”
“Ask, but I may not answer.”
To read Chapter VII, the final installment in my series, please head on over to Big Hollywood.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 08:43 AM | Comments (6)
March 03, 2009
The Obama Economy
Before the elections, Seraphic Secret warned that candidate Barack Obama, with the most leftist voting record in the Senate, a man who was a proud member of a Jew and America hating church, a church whose doctrine of black separatism is built on a Marxist model, could not be a trusted custodian of the American dream.
We have been proven correct even faster that we ever imagined. From foreign policy, where Obama is quickly proving to be a gullible child in an adult's playground, to the domestic and world-wide economy, President Obama and his gang cannot shoot straight.
Barack Obama promised to “fundamentally transform America.”
He is keeping his promise.
President Obama is uninterested in prosperity. His deepest ideology is the redistribution of wealth.
Last night, Karen, sad, enraged and in shock, told me that she could barely believe that American history has lead to the current administration.
“And what scares me is that Conservatives see the Obama presidency as an unfolding disaster while liberals view him and his policies as the culmination of their dreams. It means we live in entirely different realities.”
Karen has located the central pulse of the ideological conflict: separate realities.
The Dow is crashing. The reason is simple: the markets see Obama as anti-business, anti-investor; the people who produce jobs and capital view Obama economics as the first steps towards a Socialist economy, and a big government power grab.
If Obama and the Democrat congress continue on their current economic path, America and the world economy, will slide from recession into a depression.
Here's a fine analysis from The Wall Street Journal:
So what has happened in the last two months? The economy has received no great new outside shock. Exchange rates and other prices have been stable, and there are no security crises of note. The reality of a sharp recession has been known and built into stock prices since last year's fourth quarter.
What is new is the unveiling of Mr. Obama's agenda and his approach to governance. Every new President has a finite stock of capital — financial and political — to deploy, and amid recession Mr. Obama has more than most. But one negative revelation has been the way he has chosen to spend his scarce resources on income transfers rather than growth promotion. Most of his "stimulus" spending was devoted to social programs, rather than public works, and nearly all of the tax cuts were devoted to income maintenance rather than to improving incentives to work or invest.
His Treasury has been making a similar mistake with its financial bailout plans. The banking system needs to work through its losses, and one necessary use of public capital is to assist in burning down those bad assets as fast as possible. Yet most of Team Obama's ministrations so far have gone toward triage and life support, rather than repair and recovery.
To read the complete article, please click here.
H/T Seraphic Son-in-Law.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 08:41 AM | Comments (20)
March 02, 2009
Iran Clenches Its Fist
A group of useful Hollywood idiots are in the Islamic Republic of Iran to engage in, er, a creative exchange—whatever that means—with the terrorist state, a Holocaust denying regime, a regime that routinely executes homosexuals, a regime that calls for genocide against the Jewish state.
Okay, let's be honest, these people are self-important dupes and the Iranians are running rings around them.
But this dopey Hollywood delegation indicates everything that's wrong and, quite frankly, stupid about the Obama doctrine: engagement with a totalitarian regime whose goal is regional hegemony through terror, the oft stated threat to eliminate Israel from the face of the earth, and finally, to spread Sharia through a barbaric Caliphite.
John Bolton explains why talking with Iran is not just a waste of time, but dangerous.
As Iran prepares to fire up its Bushehr nuclear reactor — and as the International Atomic Energy Agency governing board meets this week, again confronted with further progress by Tehran's nuclear program — it is worth asking how the Obama administration is responding.
Snip.
First, diplomacy has not and will not reduce Iran's nuclear program. Ironically, European leaders are belatedly feeling hollow in the pits of their diplomatic stomachs, now that their failed diplomacy has left us with almost no alternatives to a nuclear Iran. Imagine their dismay that President Obama is now "opening" to Iran, thus eviscerating their tentative efforts to "close" the diplomatic cover under which Iran has almost achieved the worst-case outcome, deliverable nuclear weapons.
The West's collective failure to stop Iran's nuclear ambitions has persuaded Iran that it faces minimal risks in greater adventurism on other fronts as well. Mr. Obama's discovery of "carrots and sticks," after a half decade of European failure to make that mantra a successful policy, will lead Tehran's mullahs to one inescapable conclusion: They have won the nuclear race, absent imminent regime change or military action.
Second, dealing with Hamas, Hezbollah and Syria as though they are unrelated to Iran's broader threat is exactly backwards. Mr. Obama is again following Europe's mistaken view that ending the Arab-Israeli conflict will help to resolve other regional problems. But concentrating on Gaza only increases Hamas's leverage, just as negotiating with Syria only enhances its (and thereby Iran's) bargaining power.
To read the complete article, please click here.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 09:11 AM | Comments (10)
March 01, 2009
Best of the Jewish Blogosphere #206
“Hey, Annette, let's spin some discs and read Haveil Havalim!”
The Israel Situation presents Haveil Havalim #206, The I Love Adar Edition. Good reading.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 08:19 AM | Comments (1)