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April 30, 2009
Understanding the Federal Budget
We at Seraphic Secret are absolutely, um, enchanted, with this visual display of Obamanomics at work.
You know the Washington press corps is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Obama administration when Miss California gets harder questions. No, at yesterday's well orchestrated performance, reporters—and by reporters I mean Obama campaign workers—did not ask Obama about redefining marriage. They don't want the Dear Leader to say anything that just might get him in trouble.
Disgraceful.
H/T Bookworm Room
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 09:48 AM | Comments (8)
April 29, 2009
Israel: Sixty-One Years Old Plus a Geography Lesson
“If I Forget Thee O' Jerusalem.”
Photo © Robert J. Avrech, all rights reserved.
A few days ago, Seraphic Secret reader, Curious Joe, wrote the following:
How do you answer the question, "Can you give me a non-religious reason for the geographical location of Israel? I really want to answer this question when people ask me this, and I would appreciate some insight.
Obviously, the question is loaded, a veiled attempt at delegitimizing Israel.
This is a question that is posed only to Israel. I guarantee that it would never be directed towards, oh, let's say Jordan, a state created by the British for the Hashemites after Ibn Saud chased them out of Saudi Arabia. In truth, Jordan stands as the paradigm of an artificial state with no claim to its land save colonial expediency—geo-politics gone wild.
And so, after much thought, I answered the question and it is only fitting that I publish my revised response on Israel's Independence Day.
In fact, the religious answer is the only valid answer. The Torah and our subsequent history is the Jewish people's lease on the Land of Israel.
Further, there has been a Jewish presence in the land of Israel for over two-thousand years.
The religious claim is not unique to Judaism.
Every Muslim country in the world lays claim to land based on religious principles.
Christians revere Israel for religious reasons.
The Puritans came to America in search of religious freedom. In the literature of the period there are numerous allusions likening the Puritans to the Children of Israel escaping bondage and traveling to the Promised Land. In fact, the Pilgrims considered making Hebrew the official language of their new land. Thus the Pilgrim non-conformists claimed and settled this land in the name of Judeo Christian civilization.
Native Americans also claimed this land on religious reasons. The Apache believe that Ussen placed the Apache on this soil.
Almost every country and people in the world traces it's national origins from religious beliefs. Engage an Irishman—beer helps in this endeavor—in conversation and you can't help but notice the almost religious view of Ireland—Catholicism and nationalism woven tightly together.
That's why Israel is The Jewish State and not the state of New Jersey.
That's why we face East when praying, towards Israel, more specifically towards Jerusalem.
And that's why Jews yearn for Zion, chanting: If I forget thee 'O Jerusalem, let my right hand wither.
That's why Hamas, Hizbullah and the, ahem, moderate PLO direct so much propaganda against Judaism, for they are acutely aware that the Jewish claim to the Land of Israel is the foundation of modern Zionism.
And that is why the Arab world is awash in Jew-hatred.
That is why so many anti-Zionists are Jew-haters in disguise. This has become the fashion accessory on university campuses.
When people pose this question, their endgame is really this: religious motivation is primitive, invalid, send the Jews to North Dakota.
And those pesky Buddhists, send them to, uh, Alaska—those snow-capped mountains should make them feel right at home. Why do they insist upon Tibet?
I have a better idea. Send Jordanians, the Palestinians, or the Saudis to North Dakota There's plenty of open range.
The irony is this: In times past, Jews were despised because they didn't dwell in their own homeland. And now, In modern times, we are reviled, isolated, scapegoated and attacked for having a homeland.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 11:42 AM | Comments (21)
April 28, 2009
Frank Sinatra and Ava Gardner Shoot Out the Night
Ava Gardner, publicity still for The Killers, 1946.
The love affair—and I’m using that term loosely—between Ava Gardner and Frank Sinatra was doomed from the start. Both stars were emotionally immature with little impulse control. Both were alcoholics, and both had a history of affairs with equally unstable partners.
And so The Voice and The Shape plunged into a tsunami of a relationship and a six-year marriage (1951-1957) punctuated by unbridled passion, threats of suicide, and metronomic doses of violence.
In the Autumn of 1949, Gardner and Sinatra, not yet lovers, were both guests at the Palm Springs home of producer Darryl F. Zanuck. The liquor flowed, and the two stars locked in on each other like lethal missiles.
Ava said, “You’re still married.”
Frank responded, “No, doll, it’s all over. It is done.”
For hours they drank and flirted. Ava’s career was going through the roof. Her smoldering role as the femme fatale in The Killers—one of the best noir movies ever—catapulted her into the Hollywood stratosphere.
For a shoeless farm girl from North Carolina with no father and little education, Hollywood stardom was a dangerous perfume. In a few short years Ava went from being a sensitive, prim and proper virgin to a notoriously promiscuous, hard-drinking woman.
To read the complete story by yours truly, please head on over to Big Hollywood.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 08:43 AM | Comments (4)
April 27, 2009
Chavez Targets Jews of Venezuela
When the President of the United States warmly greets and embraces a Jew-hating tyrant, there are consequences.
The tyrant's cruel reign is legitimized.
The tyrant's Jew-hatred is legitimized.
Those who oppose the tyrant are dealt a terrible blow.
And of course, the lives of victims of totalitarian regimes—the unjustly imprisoned, the tortured, the murdered and the maimed—are devalued.
We should not be surprised that President Obama is so anxious to court the world's worst Jew-haters and tyrants. His history reveals a man of little moral backbone, cozying up to American terrorists Bill Ayres and Bernardine Dorn, and of course imbibing the Jew and America hating rhetoric of Jeremiah Wright.
In truth, our Commander-in-Chief's foreign policy can only be described as Dixie Chicks on steroids.
Jews not only fear the petty criminal, but being subjected to abuse because they are Jewish and identify with Israel. Today, the Jewish community is a target of a vicious campaign instigated by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who compared Israel's entry into Gaza to Nazi aggression.
In fact, on the cover of the most recent edition of PDVSA, the monthly magazine of the Venezuelan state oil company, there is a picture of a concentration camp with a watchtower and barbed wire. Flying over the camp is an Israeli flag. The caption emblazoned across the picture reads "NUEVA ADMINISTRACION" ("under new management").
Our first stop is Congregation Tiferet Yisrael, the largest Sephardi synagogue, which was defiled on January 31. It was a raid carefully orchestrated by nineteen assailants, a kind of commando attack. For me, it points to deep complicity on the part of the government. It's not only that Chavez's anti-Semitic rhetoric created a climate that inspired these attacks, it was much more. I believe this was virtually state-sponsored terror.
To read the complete story, please head on over to The Jewish Press.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 09:44 AM | Comments (18)
April 26, 2009
Best of the Jewish Blogosphere #214
Clara Bow says: “I love a man in a yarmulke!
Haveil Havalim #214, The Radiant Ziv Edition is up, hosted this week by The Rebbetzin's Husband—sounds like the title for a whacky TV sit-com starring Fran Drescher.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 08:37 AM | Comments (2)
April 24, 2009
Friday Footwear: It's Raining Louboutin Edition
“Why didn't you tell me your father's doing woman's footwear on his blog?”
Offspring #2 shrugs and sighs. For this daughter Friday Footwear falls under the category of been there, done that.
Adena, BFF with Offspring #2 since yeshiva elementary school, is radiant with joy when I invite her to pose for Friday Footwear.
“I love, love, love shoes,” she sings.
A few days later, Adena arrives at Casa Avrech schlepping an overflowing shopping bag.
“What have we got here?” I inquire.
“Fabulosity.”
“I love my Louboutin!” Adena cries.
“What is it you love?”
Solemn delivery: “Toe cleavage, very important.”
“Gotcha.”
“And in my business, let's face it, Louboutin's are a, no, the status symbol.”
Adena works for a hoo-ha fashion company—her riff on styling a, uh, temperamental Oscar nominated actress for Academy Awards night is priceless—so the value of status laden clothing cannot be overstated.
“Are the Louboutin's comfortable?”
“Noooooo. Well, not totally excruciating, but definitely not like, y'know, comfortable.”
“So you ignore the ouch factor.”
“Well, sure. Footwear means a lot to women. Probably more than any other article of clothing. We'll put up with quite a bit of pain to look good.”
As Adena poses, she provides Talmud-like commentary on females and footwear. I'm all David Hemmings in Blow Up.
Snick!
Snick!
Snick!
Meanwhile, Adena's Blackberry chirps with alarming regularity.
Adena scans the torrent of incoming text messages and responds with a blur of flying fingers.
“Who is it?” I ask.
“My boss.”
“It's Sunday.”
“I'm on call 24/7.”
“Brutal business this styling gig.”
“Well, yuh.”
Adena, tall and sleek—a Jewish Blake Lively—is Shomer Shabbos, strictly kosher, and a devoted wife to a wonderful young man. She swims in the world of Hollywood fashionistas but remains unpretentious, totally devoid of the shiny and brittle exterior that afflicts so many in La-La Land.
Adena is still the girl who, since childhood, speaks to Offspring #2 on the phone and always ends the conversation with: “I love you.”
Karen and I wish all our friends and relatives a lovely and meaningful Shabbat.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 06:25 AM | Comments (18)
April 23, 2009
Obama: King of the Hill
The only thing missing are the mirrored sunglasses, ubiquitous on the colonels from various third world tyrannies.
Let's review:
1. For no discernible reason, other than to tout his moral superiority—this from a man who kicked off his political career in the living room of American terrorists Bill Ayres and Bernardine Dorn—President Obama declassified a select group of documents.
2. President Obama then promised the nation that those who rendered legal opinions on anti-terror interrogation—methods that revealed a massive terrorist plot to bring down the Library Towers in Los Angeles, thus saving numerous lives—would not be prosecuted.
3. Twenty-four hours later, President Obama reversed himself—what else is new?—and announced that prosecution is now a possibility. How much do you want to bet that George Soros and Moveon.org played a major part in this infamous decision. The body politic of America has now been poisoned.
4. President Obama is following the playbook of banana republics where previous administrations are treated like criminals.
5. But now policy differences are being criminalized.
6. When I was a kid we played a game called King of the Hill. The kid who fought his way to the top was the winner. And then the game would begin all over again until we had to go home for dinner. But every once in a while some knucklehead would get to the top of the hill and declare the game over.
7. Obama and his followers are now Kings of the Hill. They have declared the game over, and anyone who disagrees is a criminal and subject to persecution and prosecution.
8. Such behavior leads not just to simmering resentment, but violent resistance.
9. The threat to freedom in America does not come from the right, the people who want to make government smaller, but from the left, those who fertilize big government with moral posturing and then use and abuse the power of big government to persecute opposition—past, present and future.
10. If you want to know what torture is, I suggest you reference the Al-Qaeda Field Manual of Torture, discovered by our troops in a safe house in Iraq. It's even got cute little drawings so any Islamo thug can do a top-notch job. Not surprisingly, waterboarding is not in the manual.
H/T Wolf Howling
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 09:08 AM | Comments (6)
April 22, 2009
Three Hundred Jews in Yemen are Three Hundred Too Many
Yemenite Jewish children studying Torah, 1925.
The Arab world is almost Judenrein.
But almost is not good enough.
There are no Jews in Afghanistan—save for some American Jewish soldiers.
Algeria expelled every Algerian-Jewish citizen, about 140,000, after France capitulated to the Islamic terrorists. By 1962, the ancient and proud Algerian community was no more.
In 1922 there were 80,000 Jews in Egypt. Pogroms, confiscation of bank accounts, property and expulsions from 1942 onward has left the Jewish population at less than one-hundred.
It's the same story for Jews from Iraq, Morocco, Tunisia, Libya, Syria, and Lebanon.
Jews are officially barred from stepping on Saudi Arabian soil. Henry Kissinger was given special permission by the House of Saud to enter the Jew-hating kingdom.
Currently, Morocco is home to the largest Jewish Arab population, about 4,000. But growing hostility will most certainly force these remaining Jewish Arabs to emigrate.
And now the ancient Jewish community of Yemen, a tiny and elderly minority, are on the verge of extinction.
Thus, when the world—with the aid of an odious Israeli government—claims that Jews have no right to live in Gaza, Judea or Samaria, one must recognize that these declarations are but the first step in creating Judenrein zones.
Seraphic Secret believes that Jews have the right to live anywhere in the world.
And when violence, intimidation and Islamic propaganda attempt to dictate where Jews may or may not live, well, these efforts must be recognized for what they are: eliminationist tactics.
If the Islamist claim that Jews may not live in the Jewish homeland is accepted, you can be sure that the next Judenrein zone will be Paris, London, Dublin, New York—your hometown, your street.
Yemen is in danger of losing what’s left of its Jewish community, which has called the country home for more than 2,500 years and provided its kings for a century.
Growing intimidation and violence are pushing the 300 Jews left in the Arabian Peninsula country to flee to Israel or the U.S. Four months ago, a Muslim extremist gunned down Jewish- studies teacher Moshe Yaish Nahari, a father of nine, in the town of Raida, north of the capital of Sana’a.
Snip.
About 7,000 Jews live in Arab countries, down from more than 750,000 before Israel was created in 1948. Yemen, with the third-largest community after Morocco and Tunisia, has become a more hostile place for Jews since Israel’s January invasion of the Gaza Strip.
Snip.
The first Jews arrived in Yemen at about the time of the 586 B.C destruction of the First Temple in Jerusalem. About 1,000 years later, the Himyari ruling family converted to Judaism; Jewish rule in Yemen lasted until 525 A.D., when Christians from Ethiopia took over.
Of the more than 50,000 Jews in Yemen last century, most emigrated in Operation Magic Carpet, in airlifts organized by Israel in 1949-1950 after anti-Jewish riots. Two smaller waves of emigration involving 1,700 Jews took place in the mid 1960s and the early 1990s.
To read the complete article, please click here.
Yemenite Jews
Back in 1976, the North Vietnamese Communist General Giap was asked, “How do you know so much about American troop movements and other classified information?”
"Simple,” answered Giap, ”I just read the New York Times!"
Check out the New York Times death watch. Next stop for Roger Cohen, Isabel Kirshner, and Ethan Bronner: Al Jazeera.
As President Obama's spiritual adviser said: ”The chickens have come home to roots.”
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 08:06 AM | Comments (14)
April 21, 2009
Lillian Gish: Dying for Her Audience
Lillian Gish
The great twin tragedies of the fate of silent films in the modern era is indifference and ignorance. And for those who have seen clips from silent films, they invariably view muddy, degraded prints projected at the wrong speed, hence the jerky motions that give the impression that all silent films are bad slapstick.
Of course, we all owe a great debt to Robert Osborne and TCM for programming so many fine silent films. At last, film lovers have the opportunity to screen a varied selection of silent films and appreciate the great craft that was abruptly short-circuited with the advent of talkies. The best silent films were a universal language in which image, motion and emotion were paramount.
Silent movies were shot and duplicated on fragile nitrate stock. In the few original prints I’ve been fortunate enough to screen the images are just stunning. The screen glows with a liquid, silvery radiance that’s impossible to duplicate on modern film or tape. The finest silent film players were geniuses who conveyed a world of emotion through the most subtle means.
To read my entire story, please head on over to Big Hollywood.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 09:06 AM | Comments (1)
Tweet$ From You Know Who
And hey, President Barack Hussein Obama has no problem getting all buddy, buddy with Hugo Chavez, a brutal Jew-hating tyrant, but says no to meeting with Israeli PM Netanyahu.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 07:58 AM | Comments (12)
April 20, 2009
“The Jews Are Our Enemies Because They Are Infidels, Not Because They Occupied Palestine”
Seraphic Secret has long maintained that the Arab-Muslim war against Israel has nothing to do with land, boundaries, so-called refugees, so-called occupation, or national aspirations. Let's face it, the so-called Palestinian people had a state in 1948 via the U.N. partition plan, but they and five Arab armies chose to invade Israel in an attempted war of annihilation.
No, the Arab-Muslim war against Israel is a war against Jews, against Judaism, a slow motion war with genocide as the end-game.
Of course, the Hamas Covenant states all this quite proudly.
And the PLO charter is equally articulate in its genocidal yearnings.
Naturally, liberal totalitarian enablers in the West choose to ignore basic facts in favor of so-called, ahem, reasoned criticism of Israel — unhinged Jew-hatred in disguise.
Thus, it's nice to hear a Muslim cleric, in the “moderate” Arab state of Qatar, give voice to the frothing Jew-hatred that is a core belief of Islam.
The following is an excerpt from a Friday sermon delivered by Qatari cleric Sheik Muhammad Al-Muraikhi, which aired on Qatar TV on January 9, 2009.
Sheik Muhammad Al-Muraikhi:
We do not treat the Jews as our enemies just because they occupied Palestine, or because they occupied a precious part of our Arab and Islamic world. We will treat the Jews as our enemies even if they return Palestine to us, because they are infidels. They rejected Allah and His messengers.
Source: MEMRI
Today is Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Memorial Day. And of course the Durban Hatefest, U.N. sponsored—that's a shocker—featured Iranian President Ahmadinejad denying the Holocaust while promising a new Holocaust.
France led the walk-out.
Merci.
Western allies followed.
They should not have attended this travesty in the first place.
Though the Congressional Black Caucus disagrees.
Hey, what would happen if a Congressional White Caucus was formed?
Or get this: A Congressional Jewish Caucus?
You and I already know the answer.
Meanwhile, let's hear it for The U.S., Israel, Canada, Australia, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland and New Zealand who refused to attend.
The Arab states, their totalitarian South American and African enablers applauded Ahmadinejad wildly.
The contrast between good and evil could not be more stark.
At Durban not one word about 4 million people murdered in Congo.
Not one word about genocide in Darfur.
Not one word about the murder of homosexuals in Iran and Saudi Arabia.
Not one word about the so-called honor killings and repression of women everywhere in the Arab-Muslim world.
Not one word about the rape of young boys and girls by the Taliban.
Not one word about Cuba's gulag of political prisoners.
Not one word about the mad tyranny of Hugo Chavez or Daniel Ortega, brutal men who lead regimes that are built on abuse of human rights and government sponsored Jew-hatred.
Not one word about the cesspool of Jew-hatred that characterizes every Arab society on the planet.
No, these human monsters of the U.N. endlessly attack Israel, the Jewish State.
I greatly look forward to the day when Israel turns the Iranian nuclear facilities to dust and ashes.
Even more, I look forward to the day when we are no longer dependent on Middle East oil and the Jew-hating Arab Muslim states return to their default condition: tribal barbarians forever murdering one another upon an ocean of sand and useless oil.
Seraphic Secret is happy to announce that one of our favorite bloggers, Wolf Howling, after a too long hiatus, has returned to the blogosphere. His posts are articulate and deeply informative. Do bookmark the always excellent Wolf Howling.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 07:57 AM | Comments (17)
April 19, 2009
Best of the Jewish Blogosphere
Joan Crawford says: “I'll let you eat cake—after you read Haveil Havalim.”
Up and live, The Real Shliach presents: Haveil Havalim #213, It's Been a Long Time.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 10:08 AM | Comments (4)
April 17, 2009
Friday Footwear: Ma'ayan Ariel Steps Out
Ma'ayan Ariel pulls herself to an upright position. Like a rock climber, she seeks secure hand holds and then inches along walls, bookshelves, tables. At first, her legs wobbled like a new born colt, but in the few days she's been in L.A., her muscles have gained strength and she's increasingly confident of her abilities.
Ma'ayan's adorable Quilt Shoes throw off American vibes—quilting bees, patchwork skirts, rural roads in Pennsylvania. Ribbed rubber soles help Ma'ayan gain traction. In this picture, Ma'ayan cruises along the pool fence. She looks up at the surrounding adults, her face is luminous with joy for she knows that soon she will be walking, jumping, skipping, and running like the wind.
Passover is, um, over and Jews everywhere find themselves drowning in a surplus of Matzoh.
What to do?
Here's an instructional video: 20 Thing To Do With Matzoh.
My friend, Shrink Wrapped, a wise Psychiatrist and acute observer of the current political landscape, views the Obama release of classified CIA memos for what it is: The Suicidal Pursuit of Perfection.
President Obama has, in effect, tied his own hands in the war against radical Islam. In short, Barack Hussein Obama is going to get a lot of innocent people killed.
Karen and I wish all our friends and relatives a lovely and meaningful Shabbat.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 08:09 AM | Comments (5)
April 14, 2009
Colleen Bobs Her Hair
Colleen Moore
Colleen Moore's first husband, studio executive John McCormick, was, in many ways, responsible for steering the meteoric rise of her flapper film career. Unfortunately, he was also an alcoholic and frequently abusive.
Director Mervyn LeRoy in his fascinating autobiography Take One, describes a terrifying night when McCormick, on a bender, tried to hurl Moore out of a N.Y. hotel window. LeRoy—from an assimilated Jewish San Francisco family whose last name was probably Levine—saved Moore’s life by smashing McCormick over the head with a chair. The gallant and properly violent LeRoy—at the time a top “comedy constructor” for Moore—remained as her protector the entire night, the two of them aimlessly walking the streets of New York.
In Hollywood past and present, major movie stars have major tzuris.
To read the complete story by yours truly, head on over to Big Hollywood.
Hey, remember that gigoondo warm/worshipful welcome for President Obama in Iraq? I do. Frankly, I was puzzled. It's well known that the military voted overwhelmingly for McCain. Well, mystery solved. The entire event was staged by David Axelrod and company. My buddy Joshua Pundit reveals the Obama Oz effect. Disgraceful.
Ma'ayan Ariel says: “Seraphic Secret will be off-line as we celebrate the last days of Pesach—Matzoh Brei rocks! We'll return on Friday with an extra special edition of Friday Footwear—my very favorite! My Saba and Savta, Mommy and Daddy, my favorite Tante, Offspring #3, and her fiance—can I be a flower girl?—wish all our friends and relatives a Chag Kasher V'sameach.”
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 08:17 AM | Comments (4)
April 13, 2009
Hollywood Reflections
Hollywood still photographers had a battery of standard poses for their iconic star photography. One of the most durable was the mirror portrait. Almost every female star was, at one time or another, captured studying her reflection in a mirror.
Most of the time the shots were carefully lit and composed. At other times, the stars were caught in an unguarded moment as they prepared their faces to meet the unblinking eye of the camera.
A great actress, an Oscar winner, once said me: “The camera is my enemy. It documents my mortality. I hate that damned monster.”
Let's take a look at a few stars—and their reflections.
What are they thinking as they study the landscape of their faces?
Lillian Gish prepares for a scene in Hearts of the World, 1918.
The tragic Mary Nolan. Her beauty was ravaged by abusive
men and heroin.
Jean Harlow, a casual and earthy woman, with a portable
make-up case.
The perfect reflection for Carole Lombard, an actress with a
great sense of humor.
Marilyn Monroe did not see beauty. Just a vast architecture
of flaws.
And by the way, the true story of the rescue operation yesterday and the Obama spin is something you should all know about.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 09:04 AM | Comments (11)
April 12, 2009
Somali Pirates: One Lesson
Ava Gardner says, “Well done, boys!”
Okay, kids, time for a pop quiz: What lesson do we learn from today's magnificent rescue operation of Capt. Phillips by our Navy?
1. Negotiate with terrorists.
2. Let the U.N. handle the situation.
3. Count on the, ahem, international community for support.
4. Pay ransom to the terrorists.
5. Allow the U. S. military to mount an operation and kill the terrorists.
If you choose #1, 2, 3, or 4, you are a moron.
G-d bless our military. G-d bless Capt. Phillips.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 12:38 PM | Comments (10)
The Moonflower Vine
One of my favorite novels, The Moonflower Vine, has been reissued, after 46-years, with a new forward by novelist Jane Smiley.
Here's what I wrote about this towering novel back in 0ct '06:
This obscure book, the one and only novel ever written by the mysterious Jetta Carleton, appears to be autobiographical. But make no mistake about it, this is a supremely crafted work of fiction that is deeply imagined, vividly evoked in all its parts; a story that instantly grabs you, draws you into the lives and, yes, the passionate loves of five members of the Soames family: Matthew and Callie, the husband and wife, and their daughters, Jessica, Leonie, Mathy and Mary Jo the generous narrator.
The prose is light as air and yet at the same time dense and precise. Yes, Carleton's able to carry off these two seemingly contradictory techniques at the same time. Carleton slips into the minds of each character so effortlessly that we are never aware of her supreme craft. This, to me, signifies greatness in a writer: the ability to hide method. I have never cared for writers who make make their craft part of the story. This is material for grad students who have way too much time on their hands; grim and joyless professors who have forgotten the core love of stories, literary elites who no longer read yarns but, goodness gracious, get paid to "deconstruct texts."
INTERPOLATION #1
This is all just code for Marxist theory which the academics are currently relabeling. Afterall, their precious but murderous ideology sort of got a bad rap after word got out that their demigod Mao murdered some 60 million of his own people in the name of the, ahem, people's revolution. And the fall of the equally murderous and utterly corrupt Soviet Union was, er, not so good for the cause either. All those nasty gulags. But hey, that never seems to deter the true believers. They simply tell us and each other--endlessly, ponderously, insulting the facts and our intelligence—that that wasn't real Communism.
Sound familiar?
Yup, just like the apologists for the jihadist throat-slitters, the fine folks who never tire of tellings us that that isn't real Islam.
Uh-huh.
END INTERPOLATION #1
Awareness of the author's craft has always sealed off a select group of great authors for me and made them, well, not-so-great. In fact, if not for some college lit courses, I would never crack the bindings of these author's books—for their works are boring, unpleasant, unreadable, in truth, unbearable. Here's a short list: everything Samuel Beckett ever wrote , the James Joyce of Ulysses and Finnegans Wake, whole chunks of Faulkner, and the "mature" Henry James novels, The Golden Bowl, The Ambassadors, and The Wings of the Dove are a true misery. Did you know that James referred to himself as The Master? I suppose he had to—his book sales were dismal.
Anyway, I've received over a dozen private e-mails thanking me for recommending The Moonflower Vine. So far not a single Seraphic friend has scolded me for making them waste their money on purchasing the book, no one has told me that I've stolen hours from their lives.
To order The Moonflower Vine, click here.
Here's a column by a writer who knew Jetta Carleton.
Thanks to reader Robert Nedelkoff for keeping me up to date on the reissue of this great novel.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 07:21 AM | Comments (4)
April 08, 2009
Passover: 2009
President Barack Hussein Obama signals his submission to a modern
day Pharaoh.
Casa Avrech is radiant with the presence of our girlses, wonderful son-in-law—future wonderful son-in-law due to arrive later—and granddaughter Ma'ayan Ariel.
We are together to celebrate the holiday of Passover.
At our sedarim, Passover meals, we will recite the Haggadah which recounts the story of the enslavement of the Jewish people in Egypt, our Exodus, and trek through the wilderness onward to the Promised Land, Israel. This story is told in Exodus, Ch. 1-15.
This is a celebration of national and religious freedom. We were brought out of bondage not just to be free, but to receive the Torah and live a Torah life in the Land of Israel.
That is true freedom.
We recount the greatest national and religious narrative in human history through prayer, narrative, metaphor, and foods that are marinated in symbolism.
On this holiday we teach our children the value of and cost of freedom.
Here is the The Pesach Seder, The Order of the Passover Meal:
And if your son asks you in the future, saying, What are the testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgments, that the L-RD our G-d commanded you? You will say to your son, We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt; and the L-RD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. The L-RD gave signs and wonders, great and harmful, against Egypt, against Pharaoh, and against all his household, before our eyes: And he brought us out of there to bring us in, to give us the land that he promised our fathers. -Deuteronomy 6:20-23
The text of the Pesach seder is written in a book called the haggadah. The haggadah tells the story of the Exodus from Egypt and explains some of the practices and symbols of the holiday. The content of the seder can be summed up by the following Hebrew rhyme:
Kaddesh, Urechatz,
Karpas, Yachatz,
Maggid, Rachtzah,
Motzi, Matzah,
Maror, Korekh,
Shulchan Orekh,
Tzafun, Barekh,
Hallel, Nirtzah
Now, what does that mean?
1. Kaddesh: Sanctification
A blessing over wine in honor of the holiday. The wine is drunk, and a second cup is poured.
2. Urechatz: Washing
A washing of the hands without a blessing, in preparation for eating the Karpas.
3. Karpas: Vegetable
A vegetable (usually parsley) is dipped in salt water and eaten. The vegetable symbolizes the lowly origins of the Jewish people; the salt water symbolizes the tears shed as a result of our slavery. Parsley is a good vegetable to use for this purpose, because when you shake off the salt water, it looks like tears.
4. Yachatz: Breaking
One of the three matzahs on the table is broken. Part is returned to the pile, the other part is set aside for the afikomen (see below).
5. Maggid: The Story
A retelling of the story of the Exodus from Egypt and the first Pesach. This begins with the youngest person asking The Four Questions, a set of questions about the proceedings designed to encourage participation in the seder. The Four Questions are also known as Mah Nishtanah (Why is it different?), which are the first words of the Four Questions. This is often sung. See below.
The maggid is designed to satisfy the needs of four different types of people: the wise one, who wants to know the technical details; the wicked one, who excludes himself (and learns the penalty for doing so); the simple one, who needs to know the basics; and the one who is unable to ask, who doesn't even know enough to know what he needs to know.
At the end of the maggid, a blessing is recited over the second cup of wine and it is drunk.
6. Rachtzah: Washing
A second washing of the hands, this time with a blessing, in preparation for eating the matzah
7. Motzi: Blessing over Grain Products
The ha-motzi blessing, a generic blessing for bread or grain products used as a meal, is recited over the matzah.
8. Matzah: Blessing over Matzah
A blessing specific to matzah is recited, and a bit of matzah is eaten.
9. Maror: Bitter Herbs
A blessing is recited over a bitter vegetable (usually raw horseradish; sometimes romaine lettuce), and it is eaten. This symbolizes the bitterness of slavery. The maror is dipped in charoset, a mixture of apples, nuts, cinnamon and wine, which symbolizes the mortar used by the Jews in building during their slavery.
Note that there are two bitter herbs on the seder plate: one labeled Maror and one labeled Chazeret. The one labeled Maror should be used for Maror and the one labeled Chazeret should be used in the Korekh, below.
10. Korekh: The Sandwich
Rabbi Hillel was of the opinion that the maror should be eaten together with matzah and the paschal offering in a sandwich. In his honor, we eat some maror on a piece of matzah, with some charoset (we don't do animal sacrifice anymore, so there is no paschal offering to eat).
11. Shulchan Orekh: Dinner
A festive meal is eaten. There is no particular requirement regarding what to eat at this meal (except, of course, that chametz cannot be eaten). Among Ashkenazic Jews, gefilte fish and matzah ball soup are traditionally eaten at the beginning of the meal. Roast chicken or turkey are common as a main course, as is beef brisket.
12. Tzafun: The Afikomen
The piece of matzah set aside earlier is eaten as "desert," the last food of the meal. Different families have different traditions relating to the afikomen. Some have the children hide it, while the parents have to either find it or ransom it back. Others have the parents hide it. The idea is to keep the children awake and attentive throughout the pre-meal proceedings, waiting for this part.
13. Barekh: Grace after Meals
The third cup of wine is poured, and birkat ha-mazon (grace after meals) is recited. This is similar to the grace that would be said on any Shabbat. At the end, a blessing is said over the third cup and it is drunk. The fourth cup is poured, including a cup set aside for the prophet Elijah, who is supposed to herald the Messiah, and is supposed to come on Pesach to do this. The door is opened for a while at this point (supposedly for Elijah, but historically because Jews were accused of nonsense like putting the blood of Christian babies in matzah, and we wanted to show our Christian neighbors that we weren't doing anything unseemly).
14. Hallel: Praises
Several psalms are recited. A blessing is recited over the last cup of wine and it is drunk.
15. Nirtzah: Closing
A simple statement that the seder has been completed, with a wish that next year, we may celebrate Pesach in Jerusalem (i.e., that the Messiah will come within the next year). This is followed by various hymns and stories.
Source: Judaism 101.
With the approach of this joyous holiday, we in Casa Avrech were sorely distressed and perturbed at the sight of President Obama bowing to a cruel and bigoted tyrant. President Obama probably thinks he was being, um, polite or y'know, deleriously multi-cultural. But in the Arab world, this obsequious bow signals Islam's supremacy over the Judeo Christian West. It seems to Seraphic Secret that our President, the Commander in Chief of our armed forces, has, but a vague understanding or appreciation of freedom. This is what comes from spending so much time in Jeremiah Wright's poisonous America and Jew-hating so-called church.
President's Obama disgraceful and ill-considered submission to a proudly intolerant—Jews are expressly forbidden to set foot on Saudi soil—and cruel dictator should make us acutely aware of the blessings of freedom, and how quickly such freedom can be devalued and undermined.
Karen and I with all our friends and relatives a happy and Kosher Passover.
And to our Christian friends—whom we admire and love—we wish you all a meaningful Good Friday and a happy Easter.
Oh yeah, here's a Japanese instructional video how to evenly break up Matzah for a proper sandwich. Highly educational.
H/T Dave at Israellycool
Seraphic Secret will be off-line for the first few days of Passover. We'll return on Sunday.
And since we won't be posting our weekly Friday Footwear, here's a photo of the most awesome shoes we have evuh seen. The Miami Vice by Chanel, from the 2009 Resort Collection.
I'm gonna buy these shoes for Karen—in every color! Perfect footwear when we go to the shooting range.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 10:43 AM | Comments (19)
April 07, 2009
“I’m Against Guns and Violence, Unfortunately Reality Has Intruded on My Delusional Paradise.”
“Thing is, he’s going to kill me.”
“Have you gone to the police?”
“Yes, of course I have.”
“And what happened?”
She shakes her head from side to side, wraps her arms protectively around her chest.
“I got a restraining order against Ned, that’s my ex-boyfriend. But you know what good that is, don’t you?”
“Tell me.”
She inscribes a big zero in the air.
To read the complete article by yours truly, please head on over to Big Hollywood.
Baruch Dayan Emet. David passed away today. May David's family and friends be comforted among the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 08:37 AM | Comments (4)
April 06, 2009
Hamas: Hey Kids, Let's Put on a Blood Libel Then Accuse Everyone Else of Islamaphobia!
Yup, the, er, talented Hamas Players are front and center with their popular pre-Passover blood libel.
"Jews drink the blood of Muslims and believe that God wants Jews to hate Muslims, according to a Hamas TV skit. Performed before a live audience at the Islamic University in Gaza, the segment features actors playing a father and son, in traditional Hasidic Jewish garb, discussing their God mandated hatred of Muslims. The skit opens as the father instructs: "We Jews hate the Muslims, we want to kill the Muslims, we Jews want to drink the blood of Muslims." It is later explained that Jews wash their hands before prayer, not with water, but with Muslims' blood: "We have to wash our hands with the blood of Muslims." Blood libels were a tragic part of Jewish history, as Jews were accused of using the blood of non-Jews for ritual purposes, especially the baking of Matzah for Passover. Blood libels created deep hatred and were an effective trigger for numerous pogroms and the murder of thousands. The Hamas accusation that Jews drink Muslim blood comes the week before Passover, the anniversary of many horrific blood libels."
Source: Jewish Issues Watchdog.
Roger Cohen, of The New York Times, was deeply moved by this Hamas performance in Gaza. And the Los Angeles Times, which recently ran an Op-Ed piece—naked Jew-hatred—by a Hamas terrorist, gave the play ***** stars. And my local not-so-Jewish community paper—editor: left of Trotsky—has decided that though the message of the play might be contain some uncomfortable truths we, like The Dear Leader Barack Obama, must engage in dialog with those with whom we have honest differences.
In short: the enemy of freedom is not just radical Islam, but the radical liberals—Barack Obama in Chief— who enable this totalitarian ideology that routinely threatens genocide and yearns for sharia.
Please recite Tehillim for David.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 08:32 AM | Comments (3)
April 05, 2009
Prayers for David
David Rottenstreich , a young man from the Hillcrest community in Queens, is critically ill. The family have asked that I link to their blog so my readers can be informed and recite the appropriate Tehillim, Psalms.
Please click here.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 06:01 PM | Comments (7)
Best of the Jewish Blogosphere #211
Theda Bara says: “You try cleaning for Pesach in Cleopatra wardrobe!”
I don't know how she did it with all her Pesach cleaning, But Ima on and off the Bima—Mother on and off the Pulipt—managed to put together a slamming Haveil Havalim #211, Preparing for Pesach Edition.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 09:22 AM | Comments (0)
April 03, 2009
Friday Footwear: First Steps Edition
Yehuda Yaakov's first shoes.
Seraphic Secret reader and frequent commenter Alter Ben Zion kindly sent the a-dorable picture of his son Yehuda Yaakov's first shoes, Seraphic Secret favorites: Saddle Oxfords.
Lucky little boy.
I'm greatly relieved that Alter Ben Zion did not have the shoes bronzed.
I don't know, do people bronze their baby's first shoes anymore?
When I was a kid, growing up in the 50's, bronzing was all the rage. I'd stare at the inert, lifeless bulk—no longer shoes, but a kind of gift for a pagan afterlife—and I shivered in fear.
I distinctly remember asking my parents if they did that with my first shoes and when I was told, “No,” I was hugely relieved.
Anyhoo.
Saddle shoes developed from the classic two-tone golfing shoe of the 1910's. The two-tone style was a ghost of the gaiter or spat popular in the Victorian era. The golf shoe morphed into the casual brogue, and from there the Saddle Oxford was born. In the 1950's the saddle shoe became a teenage icon. The rage continued until about 1962 when suede Hush Puppies and Penny Loafers claimed the youth market.
Hollywood leading man Warren William in
nifty two-tone brogues, 1930's.
Last Shabbos I took a deep breath and wore my new Saddle Shoes to shul. The following are quotes, from several shul buddies, after services, during our early minyan's kiddush, over to-die-for cholent:
Shul Buddy #1: “Oh man, I used to wear Saddle Shoes!”
He heaves a huge sigh and looks like Proust's haunted narrator from In Search of Lost Time.
Shul Buddy #2: “Robert, you never fail.”
Yours truly is not sure if this is a compliment or not.
What-ever.
Shul Buddy #3: “Are saddle shoes back in style!?”
Me: “Yes, and you better get with the program!”
Shul Buddy #3: “My wife would kill me.”
Me: “Are you a man or a mouse?”
Shul Buddy #3 slugs back a shot of whiskey.
Yehuda Yaakov says: “I love my saddle
shoes! Can I get another pair?”
Karen and I—and, hey, newly engaged Offspring #3 just landed in L.A—wish our relatives and friends a lovely and miraculous Shabbat.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 08:49 AM | Comments (8)
April 01, 2009
The Sudanese Raid: Beautiful Chutzpah
Soon after publishing Iran in the Crosshairs, we received a note from a close friend along with his analysis of the IAF raid in Sudan as it relates to the Iranian nuclear program. My friend serves in the military and is an acknowledged expert on things that fly through the air and go BOOM! when they land. Assigned to a sensitive post, the author must remain anonymous.
There are two paths that a nation with nuclear ambitions can travel, the plutonium path and the uranium path. During the Manhattan Project, we chose to walk both. The trinity test in 1944 was an implosion style bomb with a plutonium core. The first test of a uranium bomb was over Hiroshima, Japan on 9, August 1945. We didn't need to test it. We knew it would work.
Iran is pursuing a uranium bomb.
Plutonium bombs are difficult to construct and require nuclear reactors to spike the Pu-239 into weapon-grade material. That makes a plutonium program relatively easy for foreign powers to detect and disrupt.
Uranium is different.
Because U-235 has to be enriched to use in both civilian reactors and bombs alike, it is difficult to ascertain whether a nation wants to split the atom for peaceful purposes or not. The international atomic community prefers that a nation with civilian nuclear power aspirations allow the UN to inspect and monitor uranium processing facilities and experimental reactors for this very reason.
Iran decided to kick inspectors out several years ago. It does not take a nuclear scientist to ascertain their intentions, y'know?
Fortunately, the enrichment process is highly complicated. It takes some 8,000 centrifuges spinning for one year straight to separate enough weapons grade U-238 from the 235 for a single bomb with a 12 kiloton yield. The centrifuges are also highly sensitive to any type of seismic event, so any type of earthquake/explosion that's even in the proximity of their enrichment facilities could set the program back a year or greater.
Back in 2006, I predicted that the Iranians would be nearing a bomb by 2011-2012. I stand by that estimate.
Israel would prefer that we, America, handle things ourselves, but I suspect that they'll continue to keep a close eye on Iran's progress and perhaps try to delay it enough until after the 2012 election — in the hopes that a Republican retakes the White House. Israel wants to avoid a major Mideast war as much as we do.
The real x-factor here is Russia. Ivan controls the speed and tempo of their program. Should they decide to drive a wedge between the U.S. and the rest of the Gulf States, another major Mideast war would be the way to do it. Energy is Russia's new weapon. They want to control as much of it as possible. The irony is, the only thing standing in their way right now is the Saudis, who hate the Iranians almost as much as the Israelis do.
Robert, you hit the nail on the head when you stated: “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.”
Exactly.
Did you know the distance, as the crow flies, between Tel Aviv and Tehran is almost identical to that of Tel Aviv and Khartoum?
And flying those slow KC-130s on a refueling track right between Egyptian and Saudi airspace?
This is just beautiful chutzpah.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 01:11 PM | Comments (15)
Hebrew Hollywood Hottie Risks Life for U.S. Troops
Theda Bara in Salome, 1918, a lost film.
As a first generation American—her father, a Polish born tailor, and her mother from Switzerland—Theda Bara most obviously loved America, and like all first generation American Jews, was grateful for the golden opportunities this land offered. This great movie star went out of her way to support her country and the brave troops who sacrificed so much on the bloody western front.
In 1918-19 a flu epidemic swept across the United States. The motion picture business was hard hit. All across the country, film and stage shows closed, people wore cotton masks in the street. In October, one hundred and ninety-six thousand people died of influenza in America. World-wide, forty-million people lost their lives, far more casualties than combat deaths in the Great War.
Theda Bara, the vamp who made love to men and then cruelly destroyed them, in an act of incredible bravery and compassion, visited veteran’s hospitals while the flu was still raging.
She refused to wear a face mask, insisting that the veterans should have a chance to look their idol’s face.
To read the complete story by yourst truly, head on over to Big Hollywood.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 11:47 AM | Comments (12)