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June 30, 2009
Obama's Plan to Bankrupt America in One Easy Lesson
Bridge for sale. No money down. Easy monthly payments.
Okay, I'm no math genius. Certainly, your faithful screenwriter is not an economist.
But I do have common sense.
I understand that people should spend less than they earn in order to remain solvent and build wealth through a disciplined program of diversified investments.
But I also understand that the federal government can and does function running a moderate deficit.
As always in life, it's a matter of degrees.
Here's a brilliant, hence simple, two-minute explanation of Obamanomics.
Warning: Fasten your seat belts.
H/T Joshua Pundit
Okay, class, how is Barack Hussein Obama, our ideologue-in-chief, going to finance this spending spree?
Waving hand in air furiously: “I know, I know, teacher, green jobs.”
If you believe that fantasy, I have a bridge in Brooklyn I'd like to sell you. Green jobs are, as Howling Wolf explains, a canard.
No, the correct answer is:
Taxes.
Duh.
Obama plans to tax you.
Yes, I'm talking to you.
Obama—a man who has never run a business, handled a payroll, or generated wealth for anyone but himself with two Oprah-designed autobiographies—promised to tax only the wealthy—making 250K a year makes you wealthy,
But that was a bold faced campaign lie.
The middle class, as always, will bear the burden of Obama's crushing taxes. It's not complicated, 5% of the American population cannot support the entire federal budget.
Let's be clear, Obama is not interested in building wealth. His aim is to redistribute wealth.
And even Obama must know—uh, maybe not—that the fed can't keep printing money or we'll end up with Zimbabwe-like inflation, hauling wheelbarrows of cash in order to buy a loaf of bread.
Obama's state planned economy follows a familiar pattern.
We see this form of governance in western European socialist states where taxes are high, unemployment is in the double digits, and national health care is parsimoniously rationed by bean-counting government bureaucrats.
When our son Ariel ZT'L was ill with cancer and we practically lived in Oncology wards, we kept meeting patients from France, England, and Canada.
Why, we inquired, were they receiving medical care in America?
The answer was always the same: they were forced to wait, and wait and wait for critical treatment. They were so ill that they had been shunted aside for “better prospects.” They had to wait months for a simple MRI.
They wanted to live.
Hope and change.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 06:08 AM | Comments (27)
June 29, 2009
Israel's Twin Enemies
The blood of Iranian dissidents runs in the streets of Tehran, but the Obama administration is still anxious to talk with the mullahs about their nuclear program because, well, the Islamic tyrants are obviously so reasonable.
You see, Barack Hussein Obama does not want to meddle—no soaring rhetoric for those who are begging for it—in Iranian politics because, according to the Obama doctrine, all regimes are sacrosanct and we Americans don't have the moral authority to distinguish between good and evil, democracies and totalitarian states.
Except when it comes to Israel.
Jooz, for Obama, are another matter.
Not only does Obama feel obliged to meddle in Israeli politics, but he actually feels justified in deciding where Jews can and cannot live in the Jewish homeland, and whether they can build an addition to their homes because they have the chutzpah to have children.
Indeed, twenty years mentored by Jew-hating Jeremiah Wright certainly gives weight to Obama's moral authority.
No wonder the brave Persian dissidents are turning to Israel for aid. They, like the mullahs, understand that Obama is a weakling, a reflexive appeaser.
Obama might think he's being pragmatic as he gives legitimacy to the murderous mullahs. He might fool himself into believing that by force of his magical charisma, he'll convince the mullahs to abandon their nuclear ambitions.
But, in fact, Obama is practicing positive reinforcement—for evil.
The mullahs are not Brian Williams, who literally bowed to Obama after a recent interview/love-fest. The mullahs are not the NY Times, the LA Times, Newsweek, or Time magazine, media that are nothing more than an extension of Obama's powerful PR machine.
The mullah are brutal Islamic theocrats—they stone women to death, deny the Holocaust even as they plan another, hang homosexuals, slice off limbs as punishment for various crimes—and they have no intention of stepping back from their tyranny, from their nuclear program, or from their repeated promises to wipe Israel off the face of the earth.
Fortunately, Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli public understand the mullahs just perfectly. That's why Bibi was elected, to deal with the Persian nuclear threat, and by extension, Hizbullah's massively growing arsenal of long-range missiles in Lebanon.
Israel also understands that Obama is an enemy of the Jewish state, thus, once again, the Jewish people stand alone against a genocidal enemy.
Sigh.
What else is new?
But here's the good news: at least the geo-political situation is clear.
The Israel Air Force’s F-15 fleet is undergoing an upgrade, with systems that make it better equipped for complex long distance attack scenarios. The systems are being installed in both the F-15 and the F-15I -- a model of the F-15 that was developed by its U.S. manufacturer specifically for the IAF.
According to IDF journal BaMachaneh, the F-15I model is currently being fitted with two new systems — one called “Barad Pelada” (“Steel Hail”), and another named Lightning.
The Barad Pelada advanced weapons system has been operational in the IAF’s F-16s for almost four years, but had to be modified in order to fit the F-15.
Barad Pelada is an advanced Israeli armament that operates like a smart bomb. “The system is unique in that it is able to plan the bombing in an accurate way by identifying the target from above,” a knowledgeable source in the IAF explained. “After the identification, the system carries out guidance to the target and only then is impact made.”
Full story, here.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 08:18 AM | Comments (10)
June 28, 2009
2009 Ariel Avrech Memorial Lecture
Ariel Chaim ZT'L flies like an angel, 1981.
The Sixth Annual Ariel Avrech Memorial Lecture is up and live.
The title of Rabbi Steven Pruzansky’s lecture is: Conformity in Jewish Life: Virtue, Vice or Affectation?
Is conformity a Torah ideal, and should we encourage it in our children and communities ? Or does conformity restrict our creative impulses, diminish our simchat hachaim—joy of life—and potentially impair our service of Hashem ? Is there a value in pretending to conform externally ? This lecture will explore the Torah's balance between conformity and individuality.
To view the video of the lecture, or just listen to the audio, go to the sidebar, right below Ariel's picture and click the appropriate link.
Also: Hot and Humid Haveil Havalim at Simply Jews.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 08:03 AM | Comments (16)
June 26, 2009
Top Secret Tool: Offspring #2's Wedding Footwear
To be opened after Offspring #3's August wedding.
“Oooo, I just can't wait for my new shoes to arrive,” says Offspring #2.
Karen and I are spending Shabbat in Teaneck. We're about to sit down for our Friday night Shabbat dinner—Karen and Offspring #2 darted about the kitchen as if in a Offenbach opera—when Offspring #2 sighs loudly, yearning for the shoes she ordered less than 24 hours ago, the shoes born for her sister's upcoming wedding.
“They'll probably arrive Monday or Tuesday,” I offer.
Offspring #2 looks all tragic and suffering, like Jennifer Jones in The Song of Bernadette.
“Oh, but I want them now.”
“'ll bet you're more excited about your new shoes than the gown you're having made, right?”
“Definitely.”
My wonderful son-in-law shakes his head as he pours wine into the Kiddush cup: “I just don't get this thing women have for shoes.”
“Until you get women and their passion for footwear, you will never understand women.” I'm a regular Ludwig Wittgenstein.
Offspring #2 gets into details of the Badgley/Mischka shoes: “They're soooo cute and strappy, perfect wedding shoes with tulle on top.”
My son-in-law perks up. “Tool, you mean like a wrench?”
Karen goes: “Tulle is a fabric, like the wedding veil.”
My son-in-law looks disappointed. He really likes the idea of a wrench or a screwdriver as a shoe ornament.
We stand as he chants the Kiddush. I look at Karen, Offspring #2, and Ma'ayan Ariel, all bathed in the glow of Shabbat candles, and I experience happiness. There is no joy like being a husband, a father and a grandfather.
Meanwhile, Ruti E. writes: “At the last minute, the feet got camera shy. But I HAD to share the fulfilled quest. How many other people would care?”
Yes, Ruti, we care.
Our Israeli cyberfriend—check out the great photos on her blog—finally tracked down much desired turquoise flats and gee, what a relief, we're allowed to show them.
From the Irony File: Iranian dissidents are turning to Israel for assistance in opening up lines of communication with the outside world. They are not appealing to Barack Hussein Obama for he is clearly a weakling. It looks like Israel has inherited the mantle of Leader of the Free World. H/T Wolf Howling.
Karen and I wish all our friends and relatives a miracle in Shabbat.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 07:57 AM | Comments (15)
June 25, 2009
Troopathon 2009: My Chaplain
To read my contribution to the Big Hollywood Troopathon, please click here.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 02:17 PM | Comments (4)
If At First You Don't Succeed Grovel, Grovel Again
Iran's supreme butcher Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ridicules pen pal Obama.
This is definitely from the Neville Chamberlain school of international relations.
Prior to the current uprising in the streets of Iran, Barack Hussein Obama sent a letter to the mullahs begging them to, y'know, like us, to really like us.
Naturally, Khamenei ridiculed Obama's groveling note in a public sermon, recognizing Obama's abject tone and shameless display of weakness.
Obama, a man who has zero experience in international affairs, a man whose knowledge of geo-politics is limited to a narrow and, let's face it, radical leftist interpretation of world history—America is bad, Third World People are groovy, Israel/Jews are ruining everything. Thus, Obama is incapable of recognizing the existence of evil, much less confronting it. Obama's default is: apologize, crawl on your knees to dictators, insult your democratic allies, and claim that all cultures are equal.
The mullahs have a somewhat different frame of reference and it was articulated quite clearly by the Ayatollah Khomeini, as reported in Amir Taheri's Holy Terror, 1987.
Islam makes it incumbent on all adult males... to prepare themselves for the conquest of other countries so that the writ of Islam is obeyed in every country of the world. Those who study Islamic Holy War will understand why Islam wants to conquer the whole world... Those who know nothing of Islam pretend that Islam counsels against war. They are witless. Islam says: Kill all the unbelievers just as they would kill you all! Does this mean the Muslims should sit back until they are devoured? Islam says: Kill them, put them to the sword and scatter their armies...Islam says: Whatever good there is exists thanks to the sword and in the shadow of the sword. People cannot be made obedient except with the sword! The sword is the key to Paradise, which can be opened only to the Holy Warriors! There are hundreds of scriptures urging Muslims to value war and fight. Does all that mean that Islam is a religion that prevents men from waging war? I spit upon those foolish souls who make such a claim.
Obama's naivete is not just breathtaking, but a veritable gift to the murderous mullahs of Persia, and to totalitarians everywhere.
Today, Big Hollywood is proud to participate in the 2nd annual Troopathon with content dedicated solely to the military and their families. Make sure to check out Big Hollywood's Troopathon.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 08:41 AM | Comments (2)
June 24, 2009
The Savages are Loose, Obama Waits to See How it Plays Out
“You should stop this... you should help the people of Iran who demand freedom... You should help us...”
Nah.
Barack Hussein Obama would rather sit down and chat with mass murderering mullahs because, y'know, he's just so darned smart and charming that his Jedi force field will convince them to give up their nuclear program, abandon their plans to annihilate Israel, cease oppressing women, renounce the hanging homosexuals, and sing kumbaya.
Security forces wielding clubs and firing weapons beat back demonstrators who flocked to a Tehran square Wednesday to continue protests, with one witness saying security forces beat people like "animals."
At least two sources described wild and violent conditions at a part of Tehran where protesters had planned to demonstrate.
"They were waiting for us," one source said. "They all have guns and riot uniforms. It was like a mouse trap.
"I see many people with broken arms, legs, heads — blood everywhere — pepper gas like war," the source said.
Another witness said hundreds of people were chased by security forces and clubbed about a mile from the square.
Yet another source, a man who spoke to his wife in the area of the square, recounted what she told him in a phone conversation.
He said she saw security forces shooting and beating people and saw blood on people's clothes and in the streets. The woman said security forces had been carrying butcher knives and batons.
Full story here.
But fear not, Barack Hussein Obama is “waiting to see how it plays itself out.”
Odd, I always believed that America leads the world in the cause of freedom.
Guess not.
Hope and Change for Islamic terrorists, but for a people struggling to loosen the shackles of tyranny, tepid rhetoric.
Reprehensible.
More excellent coverage of the Persian repression from my friend Wolf Howling
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 04:43 PM | Comments (14)
Obama's Push for a Judenrein Jerusalem
If I Forget Thee O' Jerusalem, Let My Right Hand Wither.
Photo by Robert J. Avrech, all rights reserved.
Let's review:
Barack Hussein Obama's mentor for over 20-years was the Jew-hating Jeremiah Wright. Obama was a faithful member of Wright's, so-called church, where Jew-hater Louis Farrakhan was lionized. Obama was buddy-buddy with American terrorists/trust fund babies Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn, members of the murderous Weather Underground, and authors of Prairie Fire, a Communist manifesto dedicated to, among others, Sirhan Sirhan, the man who assassinated Robert F. Kennedy because of RFK's support of Israel. Also BFF with Obama is Rashid Khalidi, a Jew-hating—duh—Palestinian radical.
To paraphrase Claude Rains in Casablanca: “I'm shocked, shocked to find that Barack Hussein Obama is seeking a confrontation with The Jewish State and getting all misty-eyed over the Jew-hating Arab states.”
Item: Obama just reinstated full diplomatic relations with Syria. This is one of the most repressive regimes on the planet, a state that, in partnership with North Korea, secretly tried to build a nuclear facility, a state that sponsors terrorist groups Hamas and Hizbullah, a regime that assassinates its opponents in Lebanon, a thugogracy that just officially recognized the legitimacy of the Iranian elections.
There is no question that Barack Hussein Obama is putting the big freeze on Israel.
As for so-called Arab East Jerusalem, well, it's not.
Jews have lived in East Jerusalem since time immemorial, but the Jewish population was expelled, ethnically cleansed by Muslims beginning with the Arab pogroms of 1920.
Here's a rule you can live by: When Arab Muslims claim a piece of real estate, the first order of business is to expel the Jews. Look at Gaza. Thus there are 22 Arab Muslim countries and they are—except for Morocco's remnant of 2,000 Jews—Judenrein.
Jewish neighborhoods in east Jerusalem are included in the US demand that Israel halt "settlement" construction, including for natural growth, State Department spokesman Ian Kelly told The Jerusalem Post during a press briefing on Monday.
"We're talking about all settlement activity, yes, in the area across the line," he said, referring to neighborhoods in Jerusalem over the Green Line, or pre-1967 armistice line, in response to a question on where America's calls to halt construction in the settlements would be applied.
Full story, here.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 08:43 AM | Comments (4)
June 23, 2009
Obama and Mullahs to Celebrate July 4th, Good Times
Neda Salehi Agha Soltan will not be attending a
July 4th barbecue. But her murderers will.
Engagement.
It's the magical concept for Barack Hussein Obama. Because, y'know, he can just charm the Jew-hating (shades of Jeremiah Wright) America-hating (Wright again) mullahs; convince the tyrants to give up their nuclear program and their vow to eliminate Israel from the face of the earth.
Meanwhile, as the Basij and the Revolutionary Guard murder people in the streets, break into homes and arrest alleged enemies of the regime, as Iranian citizens are tortured in black hole prisons, Barack Hussein Obama and the geniuses who run the State Dept. have determined that a happy-go-lucky July 4th bash is just the thing to enlighten our Islamo Nazi buddies.
I think this Iranian dissident, who begs Obama to get involved, is going to be a bit disappointed.
But have no fear, the state controlled media in the U.S.—except Fox News, the lone dissenting voice—will assure us that Barack Hussein Obama knows exactly what he's doing because he's the smartest, most handsome, most wise POTUS who ever lived. Evan Thomas of Newsweek definitely nailed it with this bit of orgiastic pagan frenzy: “...he's sort of a God.”
Let's contrast Ronald Regan on Poland with Obama on Iran:
Yup, what could be more appropriate than a show of solidarity between America and a totalitarian Islamic theocracy that guns down its own citizens in the streets.
The United States said Monday its invitations were still standing for Iranian diplomats to attend July 4 celebrations at US embassies despite the crackdown on opposition supporters.
President Barack Obama's administration said earlier this month it would invite Iran to US embassy barbecues for the national holiday for the first time since the two nations severed relations following the 1979 Islamic revolution.
"There's no thought to rescinding the invitations to Iranian diplomats," State Department spokesman Ian Kelly told reporters.
H/T Mere Rhetoric
Wolf Howling comments: “Not just immoral, but obscene.” Read the entire post.
Here's some good news. You know that aktion against Trader Joe's by the Jew-hating thugs? Well, it was a complete and utter failure. Divest This! has the story.
H/T A. Mark David
Question: All the divest-from-Israel creatures who say they are concerned about human rights, human dignity, freedom, etc. where are they now that Iran is exploding?
Answer: No Jooz to blame, so why bother.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 05:56 AM | Comments (13)
June 22, 2009
Blood in the Streets
Neda Soltan's last words were: "I'm burning, I'm burning!"
The following video is graphic.
A young Iranian woman, Neda Salehi Agha Soltan, 27, was standing with her father and watching the protests in Tehran, when she was shot in the chest by the Basij, the Brownshirts of the current Islamic regime. She is in her death throes. Her father begs her not to be afraid.
There is nothing worse than watching your child die.
Neda's funeral was supposed to be held at Tehran's Niloufar Mosque. But the Iranian regime ordered the funeral service canceled. Other mosques have also been issued directives warning them not to hold a funeral for Neda. Thousands of her fellow students were expected to attend her funeral.
More commentary and horrifying videos here.
I post this because President Barack Hussein Obama's tepid support for those Persians who are desperate to throw off the shackles of tyranny is disgraceful. But it's not surprising. Obama bet the farm on the Jew-hating Mullahs. He groveled and apologized to the current regime, thus backing himself into a corner where pale, canned statements written by State Dept. hacks are, presumably, the, ahem, ethical way to go.
Bookwork Room writes a letter to the Iranian People that says everything Obama seems incapable of articulating.
Hope and change for Gitmo terrorists.
But for freedom fighters in Persia—nothing.
America should stand firmly on the side of freedom. This is basic to the American character.
Contrast the video above with the Al-Durah blood libel, a bloodless and fraudulent video produced by the Palestinians and disseminated by a craven western media. My friend Breath of the Beast, covers this in detail.
But have no fear, the U.N. just added Iran—yup, no joke—to its Human Rights Commission. So the Iranian dissidents who are being shot down in the streets, beaten in their homes, and tortured in prisons can expect lots of support from that august body.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 07:20 AM | Comments (14)
June 21, 2009
Best of the Jewish Blogosphere #221
Just returned from The Sixth Annual Ariel Avrech Memorial Lecture, an overwhelming success. Rabbi Pruzansky's views on conformity and non-conformity in Jewish life are unique and thought provoking. We will be posting a video of the event in a week or so and we strongly suggest that you take the time to view it.
I am emotionally drained and need some quiet time to absorb the entire experience.
Thanks to everyone who attended and to those who could not attend but wrote to us with emotional support.
In the meantime, here's the latest edition of Haveil Havalim, edited beautifully by The Real Shliach.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 02:38 PM | Comments (3)
June 19, 2009
Sixth Annual Ariel Avrech, ZT'L Memorial Lecture
The Sixth Annual Ariel Avrech ZT'L Yahrtzeit Lecture takes place this weekend Sunday June 21, 2009, at 10 AM at the Young Israel of Century City, followed by a brunch.
Young Israel of Century City
9317 West Pico Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90035
We are pleased to announce that we have engaged Rabbi Steven Pruzansky to present this year’s lecture.
Rabbi Pruzansky is the spiritual leader of Congregation Bnai Yeshurun, a synagogue consisting of nearly 600 families located in Teaneck, New Jersey, and one of the most vibrant centers of Orthodox Jewish life today. He has served since August 1994.
Rabbi Pruzansky graduated from Columbia University in 1978 with a B.A. in history, and received a Juris Doctor degree from the Benjamin Cardozo School of Law in 1981. He practiced law for 13 years as a general practitioner and litigator in New York City until assuming his current pulpit. Rabbi Pruzansky studied in yeshivot in Israel and the United States, and was ordained at Yeshiva Bnei Torah of Far Rockaway, New York under the guidance of Rabbi Yisrael Chait, shlit”a.
He recently served as President of the Rabbinical Board of Bergen County, and currently serves as the Treasurer of the Rabbinical Council of America. He is a trustee of the RCA on the Board of the Beth Din of America, as well as a dayyan on the Beth Din itself. He also served as the American co-spokesman for the International Rabbinic Coalition for Israel. Rabbi Pruzansky served on the Board of Directors of the Jerusalem Reclamation Project, and received their Rabbinic Leadership Award at their 1995 Jerusalem Day banquet.
Rabbi Pruzansky is the author of A Prophet for Today: Contemporary Lessons of the Book of Yehoshua, and Judges for our Time: Contemporary Lessons of the Book of Shoftim.
Rabbi Pruzansky recently entered into the blogosphere with a fine blog appropriately titled: Rabbi Pruzansky's Blog.
The title of Rabbi Pruzansky’s lecture is: Conformity in Jewish Life: Virtue, Vice or Affectation?
Is conformity a Torah ideal, and should we encourage it in our children and communities ? Or does conformity restrict our creative impulses, diminish our simchat hachaim—joy of life—and potentially impair our service of Hashem ? Is there a value in pretending to conform externally ? This lecture will explore the Torah's balance between conformity and individuality.
We look forward to seeing all our friends and relatives at the lecture.
Learning Torah was Ariel's greatest joy. There is no better way of honoring Ariel's memory than by participating in this lecture series.
May Ariel's neshama have an aliyah.
You do not have to RSVP to attend. The lecture and brunch are courtesy of the Avrech Family and Friends.
The lecture will be videotaped and posted on Seraphic Secret for the benefit of those who cannot attend in person.
Karen and I wish all our friends and relatives a restful and meaningful Shabbat.
Important Note: Trader Joe's, all across the United States, are due to be raided by Jew-hating rabble who seek to prevent Israeli products from being sold by removing them from shelves.
This is much like the Nazi boycotts of Jewish businesses during the 30's.
So, those of you who can, please head on over to your local Trader Joe's and purchase as many Israeli products as you can. If you're Jewish do this on Friday—today—so as no violate the Sabbath.
Make sure to let Trader Joe's know that you appreciate the fact that they carry Israeli products.
Stand up to the thugs who seek to destroy Israel and the Jewish people. They are just old fashioned Jew-haters hiding behind the fashionable mask of anti-Zionism.
These creatures already struck a supermarket in Paris. Naturally, no one called the police or confronted the jihadists. Roll the tape.
H/T Israel Matzav
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 08:24 AM | Comments (15)
June 18, 2009
Hollywood Good Guys: Liev Schreiber & Naomi Watts
Hollywood stars Liev Schreiber and Naomi Watts, with their two children Samuel, 3, and Alexander, 1, recently visited Israel.
Schreiber said his grandfather was a strong Zionist who had always begged him to go to Israel. His grandfather died before he could make that happen, so this trip resonates for him. It may also have additional meaning following his most recent role as Zus Bielski in Defiance, the Holocaust movie recounting the Bielski brothers, Jewish partisans who lived and rebelled against the Nazis from a Bellarussian forest with a band of fellow refugees.
Schreiber recalls some intensely personal history:
“I grew up in the Lower East Side of New York, and I’m half-Jewish. Anything that has resonance for me about my family history, because I don’t know much about it, I’m drawn to. That’s part of why I think I choose projects like this. Less because I’m right for them, but because I want to know if I’m right for them.”
As Schreiber planted a tree in the Galilee, Naomi Watts recited the tree planting prayer.
“This particular area is called Galilee,” the dad-of-two explained. “And in this area, approximately 750,000 trees were destroyed in missile attacks [from Gaza]. So what we are doing here today is called Project Renewal.”
From years of watching Hollywood distance itself from Israel and Zionism I can safely observe that Schreiber and Watts, in their love of Israel and Judaism—make no mistake about it, the war against Israel is primarily a jihad against Judaism—are brave people for going public. Both are exquisitely gifted actors—A-list all the way—and their support for Israel should be applauded.
Once upon a time, Hollywood stars were firm supporters of Israel. Screenwriter Ben Hecht worked tirelessly for the Irgun. Frank Sinatra donated thousands of dollars to the Zionist cause. But the cancer of multi-culturalism has embedded itself into the “progressive” body politic of Hollywood, and with it comes the inevitable poison of moral equivalency, resulting in such vile movies as Steven Spielberg's historically and ethically bankrupt Munich.
Liev and Naomi proudly display their Jewish
National Fund certificates.
Liev Schreiber binds himself in tefillin.
Naomi Watts, holding her son Alexander, prays at the
Kotel, the Western Wall.
More pictures here.
Want to plant a tree in Israel? Click here and do it.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 07:49 AM | Comments (16)
June 17, 2009
Hamas: From Gaza to Tehran
All in a day's work for Hamas.
Hamas, the fanatic, Jew-hating terrorists who occupy and rule Gaza, are now doing what they do best—murder, torture and intimidation—on behalf of the current military/Islamic dictatorship in Iran.
You see Barack Hussein Obama does not want to meddle in Iranian affairs, but Hamas has no such compunctions.
Not surprisingly, the Mullahs are accusing America of—what a shock—meddling in Iranian affairs.
Hamas, need I remind my readers, are the same people Jimmy Carter wants removed from the U.S. designated terrorist watch list.
Make no mistake about it, Barack Hussein Obama's restraint in dealing with the current situation in Iran only aids and abets the Mullahs, and deals a terrible blow to those who seek some measure of freedom.H/T Israel Matzav
Hey, I have an idea, let's give the so-called Palestinians another state—they already have Gaza and Jordan—what could possibly go wrong?
Palestinian Hamas members are helping the Iranian authorities crush street protests in support of reformist presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi, two protesters told The Jerusalem Post On Tuesday.
They made their allegations as rioting on a scale unseen in Iran for nearly a decade continued in the wake of the elections and the allegations that the results were falsified. The protests have now spread from Teheran to other major cities.
Snip.
“The most important thing that I believe people outside of Iran should be aware of," the young man went on, "is the participation of Palestinian forces in these riots."
Another protester, who spoke as he carried a kitchen knife in one hand and a stone in the other, also cited the presence of Hamas in Teheran.
On Monday, he said, "my brother had his ribs beaten in by those Palestinian animals. Taking our people's money is not enough, they are thirsty for our blood too."
It was ironic, this man said, that the victorious Ahmadinejad "tells us to pray for the young Palestinians, suffering at the hands of Israel." His hope, he added, was that Israel would "come to its senses" and ruthlessly deal with the Palestinians.”
Complete story at The Jerusalem Post.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 07:42 AM | Comments (6)
June 16, 2009
Obama's Anti-Rational Losing Streak
Karen and I are sitting in Kennedy Airport, waiting for our flight—delayed, delayed—when Barack Hussein Obama gives his rambling non-statement on the chaos currently gripping Iran. In Kennedy, you are a prisoner to CNN—Pravda pixels. Karen expresses outrage at the deliberate blackout of Fox News—also enforced on Virgin America Airlines—and then declares Obama's gutless statesmanship as, well, gutless.
I'm like: “Sshhh...”
Eyes darting about nervously because the Obama worship in this country has reached Stalin-like proportions and I really don't feel like getting into a smack down with some deranged Obamamaniac.
Karen goes: “This is still America and I'm free to speak to mind.”
I point to the electronic flight board and then gesture to the waiting passengers: “Um, Karen, this flight is to San Francisco. Most of these people are not too normal as it is, y'know.”
Anyway, Obama has a poker-tell that is visible from outer space. Whenever he opens a statement with: “Let me be perfectly clear...” you can be sure that he's about to launch into a black hole of a policy spin that is anything but clear. And in the process Obama will suck up all the oxygen in the room. Obama does not disappoint, his statement on Iran is one of those, on-the-one-hand, on-the-other-hand rambles (the man is helpless without teleprompter) that ends up saying nothing except that America doesn't want to be a bad guy because we respect Iran and whatever Jew-hating regime they cram into office, yadda-yadda. Blowhard central.
In short, Obama, as with all major policy decisions, is a rank amateur, a former community organizer whose world view remains narrow, parochial and deeply ill informed.
Here's Caroline Glick on Natanyahu's speech—aimed at an audience of one: Barack Hussein Obama.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's speech Sunday evening at Bar-Ilan University had one goal: To get US President Barack Obama off of Israel's back.
Netanyahu's speech was an eloquent, rational and at times impassioned defense of Israel. For Israeli ears, after years of former prime minister Ehud Olmert's and former foreign minister Tzipi Livni's continuous assaults on Israeli rights, and their strident defenses of capitulation to the Palestinians and the Syrians, Netanyahu's address was a breath of fresh air. But it is hard to see how it could have possibly had any lasting impact on Obama or his advisers.
To be moved by rational argument, a person has to be open to rational discourse. And what we have witnessed over the past week with the Obama administration's reactions to both North Korea's nuclear brinksmanship and Iran's sham elections is that its foreign policy is not informed by rationality but by the president's morally relative, post-modern ideology. In this anti-intellectual and anti-rational climate, Netanyahu's speech has little chance of making a lasting impact on the White House.
To read Caroline Glick's complete article, please click here.
Here's STRATFOR'S George Friedman on the implications of the Iranian elections, Israel and the United States. He's got a somewhat different take than the majority of the MSM and the blogosphere as to what happened in Iran.
And hey, in the world according to Barack Hussein Obama, this is the proper punishment for training with Al Qaeda. Your tax dollars at work.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 07:13 AM | Comments (24)
June 12, 2009
Friday Flickers: Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde
It's perfect material for the movies: The struggle between good and evil. Man's dual nature. The conflict between earthly desires and heavenly aspirations. There's a good girl and, naturally, a bad girl; all neatly folded into a narrative that wrestles with questions of free will and man's place in G-d's universe.
There's also kinky Victorian sex, a secret lab with bubbling beakers, and banks of rolling fog over slick cobblestones. Delicious stuff for the silver screen.
Previous to the 1941 Spencer Tracy/Ingrid Bergman version of the R. L. Stevenson classic “Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde” there were several well regarded Hollywood productions.
The silent film, (1920) starring John Barrymore is an effective split personality morality tale, but Barrymore's Mr. Hyde make-up is over-the-top, grotesque, and makes too overt man's dual nature.
This film, however, offers one of the few opportunities to view the tragic, sadly forgotten Martha Mansfield, real name Martha Ehrlich. A former Ziegfeld girl, Mansfield was a lovely and promising actress who died in 1923 when, on location for The Warrens of Virginia, a carelessly thrown cigarette match ignited her voluminous Civil War period costume. Mansfield died in agony of third degree burns the next day. She was 24-years old.
Also in a co-starring role as Poole, Jekyll's butler, is the young George Stevens who went on to become one of Hollywood's great directors.
In 1931, Rouben Mamoulian directed a fine production starring Frederic March. Miriam Hopkins is sensational as bad girl “Champagne” Ivy. She blows March off the screen for he comes across as a taciturn and dispassionate Jekyll. There's little evidence of the pulsating fire that should be corrupting Jekyll's soul. This version was produced before the The Production Code was enforced, thus Hopkins is clearly identified as a prostitute and she brings just the right heat as a cheerily manipulative tramp.
As in the Barrymore production, March's Hyde is a hunched, scampering, ape-like human—sort of a missing link—making it hard to believe that Ivy could fall under the spell of this degrading and degraded creature.
Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde publicity photo: Lana Turner, Spencer Tracy, and Ingrid Bergman.
Director Victor Fleming and master screenwriter John Lee Mahin—who collaborated with Fleming on numerous productions—were determined to make their film more realistic, aiming for emotional truth.
Tracy's transformation make-up is limited and the evil in his nature come across overwhelmingly as the yetzer ha-ra, the evil inclination, which, according to Jewish thought, is present in every man.
Ingrid Bergman, brimming with luminous sensuality, plays temptress Ivy, a barmaid—wink, nudge—in MGM's ravishing vision of a squalid London dance hall. Bergman writes in her autobiography that she loved the Ivy character and implored Fleming to cast her in the role. Fleming couldn't see it. Like producer David O Selznick, Fleming saw Bergman as a “peaches and cream girl,” the opposite of Ivy. But Bergman persisted and Fleming made a screen test that convinced both director and producer.
The up and coming starlet Lana Turner is solid and absolutely convincing as Jekyll's very proper and innocent fiance. Turner had little technique at her disposal, but was capable of finely nuanced work when paired with the right director, and Fleming was one of the greatest.
The following clip is brief, but conveys everything that is best about this film. Tracy and Bergman warily circle one another with stunning precision. Tracy did noble perhaps better than any other player in Hollywood, but it could get tedious. Here, under Fleming's careful eye, Tracy's nobility is flawed, and self destructive fractures are all too apparent. Being a good man is hard work, and Tracy, in every reaction shot and line reading, skillfully weaves Dr. Jekyll's inward struggle.
Bergman, carrying on a love affair with Fleming—both were married—during the production, gives a fascinating, multi-layered performance as a born-to-the-streets pro who comes across like a high school virgin bewildered by her powerful desires. The attraction between Jekyll and Ivy is palpable, beautifully modulated, and the emotional realism that Fleming and Mahin sought is lovingly fulfilled.
Karen and I wish all our friends and relatives a restful and meaningful Shabbat.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 04:02 AM | Comments (6)
June 11, 2009
Honey, Supper's in the Oven, I'm Out Killing Jews
A few observations:
1. The video material that makes up the bulk of this news report is a not-so-slick promo film staged by the public relations department of Hamas, hence it is propaganda.
2. The intent of the propaganda is to give the illusion that Arab Muslim women in Gaza are enthusiastically training to kill Jews. But, the film emphasizes that these women are, at the same time, devoted mothers and wives. It's the Arab Muslim version of the upwardly mobile woman who, in Vogue cover speak, can “have it all.”
3. The truth is somewhat different: Arab Muslim female terrorists are not gun-toting front line terrorists. Their role is confined to homicide bombings. And in almost every case the woman has been mentally challenged or shamed into the murderous act because of a disgraceful divorce, charges of adultery, unforgivable spinsterhood—whatever works to purge the undesirable female from the umma.
4. Not content to abuse an entire generation of Muslim children through rabid Jew-hating indoctrination, Palestinian culture now moves to normalize this pathology among mothers and wives. In the past, female terrorists were almost exclusively single women. Arab Muslim culture views the womb as a valuable source of flesh destroying shrapnel.
5. These female terrorists are firmly embedded and glorified in Gaza—the Palestinian State. It is a state that ethnically cleansed itself of 9,000 Jews, a state whose charter calls for genocide against the Jewish people, a state that declares its final goal not a Palestinian state but an Islamic Caliphite. Barack Hussein Obama's demand for a two-state solution by 2011 is, in fact, a call for Israel to commit national suicide.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 07:48 AM | Comments (5)
June 10, 2009
I Was Raped By The Taliban And I liked It...
Joanie de Rijke, feminist friend to the Taliban.
Ever wonder why so-called western “feminists” rarely protest the savage oppression of women in Muslim countries?
In Afghanistan women who try and get an education regularly have acid thrown in their faces. Or they are murdered in the streets. In Saudi Arabia women are forbidden to drive. All over the Muslim world so-called honor killings are everyday occurrences.
And yet western feminists are silent, reserving their energies for pro-abortion activism—including barbaric third term abortions—and advocating for changing the traditional definition of marriage.
It's safe to say that most secular western feminists are leftists and their world view is a fashionable cocktail of Marxism, multi-culturalism, moral equivalence and a strong dose of tolerance—if not downright admiration—for the most intolerant fanatics who stalk this earth.
And the poster child for this world view is Dutch leftist/feminist/journalist Joanie de Rijke who was kidnapped by the Taliban and serially raped for six days until a ransom of $137,000 was paid by the Dutch government.
Joanie de Rijke traveled to Afghanistan to conduct a “sympathetic
interview” with Taliban Islamists who killed ten French troops.
I believed that rape is evil.
I believe that rapists should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
I believe that victims of rape—and I heard lots of rape stories when I was researching a film in prison, so I include homosexual rape in this equation—have been violated in ways that can almost never be psychically expunged.
But what do I know.
I'm not an enlightened progressive.
Most women who get repeatedly raped while being held captive might find that a tad objectionable. Not Joanie de Rijke, 43 year old left wing Dutch journalist who traveled to Afghanistan expecting to interview members of the Taliban. Taken captive by a Taliban commander, she was repeatedly raped by her Muslim captor while awaiting payment of a ransom. He even invited her to have a threesome with one of his three wives. After the ransom was paid and Ms. de Rijke was released, she defended her captor, saying she bore no animus: “I do not want to depict the Taliban as monsters. I am not angry with Ghazi Gul. After all, he let me live” and, she added, "they . . . respected me" and that they gave her "tea and biscuits.”
Tea, biscuits... and rape.
Sounds like a new trend.
By the way, don't make the mistake of assuming this woman is crazy, or suffering from Stockholm Syndrome. Nothing of the sort. She is eminently sane. And she sympathized with her abductors and rapists before the crimes were committed. No, this creature is a perfect product of left wing dhimmitude. How much do you want to bet that Joanie despises Israel and spends lots of energy denouncing Israel—Israel bashing is popular among feminists—as a colonial, apartheid regime.
To read the full story, please head on over to Wolf Howling, one of the smartest bloggers in the known universe.
Excellent article by Dore Gold on Israeli Settlements and U.S. Policy. Gold sketches in historical facts that the Obama administration conveniently ignores, or of which they are completely ignorant. Most likely a combination.
Israeli settlements in the territories captured in the 1967 Six-Day War date back more than forty years. They began as military and agricultural outposts that were located for the most part in strategically significant areas of the West Bank which Israel planned to eventually claim. These settlements were also situated in areas from which Jews had been evicted [by Arabs] during the 1948 War. While the U.S. did not support the settlement enterprise, its response to the settlements has varied in intensity, depending on the overall relationship between the two countries.
For the complete article, click here.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 07:48 AM | Comments (22)
June 09, 2009
Hollywood Unveiled: John Wayne Walks Like a Girl
John Wayne walks the walk in Hondo, 1953.
It’s in the walk.
Think of Mae West, hands caressing her Rubenesque hips, head tilted, not just sauntering, but oozing forward, the exaggerated female.
Elbows cocked and angled at his hips, moving with concentrated energy, Jimmy Cagney looks like a coiled spring about to explode.
Joan Crawford, leading with her linebacker shoulders, like a tank on the battlefield, determined, dangerous, unstoppable.
Spine rigid, arms glued to his side, plumb straight steps—no motion in the hips or shoulders—eyes nailed to the distant horizon, Henry Fonda’s walk is a combination of cool reserve and righteous indignation.
Bette Davis, nervously wringing her hands—William Wyler once threatened to chain them down—as she paces back and forth in her pathologically unstable world.
Rapid fire mincing steps, hips and shoulders swaying, Marilyn Monroe is the archetype of the sexually charged woman, and yet simultaneously a little girl who is innocent of her immense power.
And then there is John Wayne.
To read my entire article, walk on over to Big Hollywood.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 07:50 AM | Comments (15)
June 08, 2009
Obamanomics
H/T: Mahnishmah. Hebrew for: “What's New.”
And Homicide Horses. Yup, Palestinian culture at work. Wonder if PETA is going to object.
Palestinian woman faces death penalty as a spy for Israel. Who knows. But take a look at her circumstances. Sounds like another, ahem, honor killing—but blaming the Jooz.. Yup, Palestinian culture at work. Wonder if women's groups in America are going to object.
Department of Homeland Jihad: I feel so much safer.
Nuremberg Laws Redux: Egypt Bans Marriage to Israelis. Imagine the international outcry if it was Israel who banned marriage to Egyptians.
It's Salafi Islam, Stupid: Barack Hussein Obama seems to believe that the biggest problem in the Middle East is the Arab Israeli conflict. Such wisdom. Michael J. Totten begs to disagree in his excellent: The Mother of all Myths.
The Obama Rupture: George Friedman of the excellent intelligence site Stratfor analyzes Obama's breach in U.S. Israeli relations.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 08:54 AM | Comments (9)
June 07, 2009
Best of the Jewish Blogosphere # 220
Rabbi Moshe & Ida Yoelson says: “Maybe if our Asa—AKA Al Jolsen—had read Haveil Havalim, he might have married a nice Jewish girl instead of all those, feh, treif Hollywood actresses.
Up and live is Haveil Havalim: The Beach Blanket Edition, beautifully edited and annotated by the extremely busy Esser Agaroth. Thanks so much for including and commenting on Seraphic Secret's tribute to my father, Rabbi Abraham Avrech.
Charles Krauthammer has some thoughts regarding Barack Hussein Obama's Pharaonic move against Jewish babies.
In the 16 years since the Oslo accords turned the West Bank and Gaza over to the Palestinians, their leaders built no roads, no courthouses, no hospitals, none of the fundamental state institutions that would relieve their people’s suffering. Instead they poured everything into an infrastructure of war and terror, all the while depositing billions (from gullible Western donors) into their Swiss bank accounts.
Obama says he came to Cairo to tell the truth. But he uttered not a word of that. Instead, among all the bromides and lofty sentiments, he issued but one concrete declaration of new American policy: “The United States does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements,” thus reinforcing the myth that Palestinian misery and statelessness are the fault of Israel and the settlements.
Blaming Israel and picking a fight over “natural growth” may curry favor with the Muslim “street.” But it will only induce the Arab states to do like Abbas: sit and wait for America to deliver Israel on a platter. Which makes the Obama strategy not just dishonorable but self-defeating.
Read the complete article here.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 09:27 AM | Comments (1)
June 05, 2009
Wedding Shoes: Perfect But Top Secret
Trust me, within the black box are Karen's unbelievable shoes for the wedding.
Karen says: “I found the perfect shoes for Offspring #3's wedding.”
I'm like: “Already?”
“Yep. One trip to Loehmann's and there they were. Wanna see?”
“You have to ask?”
Karen flips the lid off the CK box, reaches in and pulls out—I'm not kidding—killer shoes.
“On sale,” says Karen.
Balancing on one foot, Karen slips on the right shoe. She stands back and admires the sleek view.
“Nice, huh?”
“Brilliant.”
Karen slips on the left shoe.
Frowns.
I lean in, study the shoes, something is wrong.
Karen goes: “They gave me two right shoes.”
The love of my life looks stricken, and then spitting angry.
“They sold me two right shoes.”
I feel Karen's pain. The perfect shoes are less than perfect.
Karen yanks the shoes off, shoves them back in the box and grabs her car keys.
“Where you going?”
“Back to Loehmann's to get the left shoe.”
Lillian Gish reacts when she discovers that her lover is dead.
While Karen's on her sortie, I sit back and watch Lillian Gish and Ronald Colman in The White Sister, 1923, a wildly romantic drama about star crossed lovers. Colman's an officer in the Italian army and he's in love with Lillian Gish who comes from this wealthy aristocratic family, but then she gets cheated out of her inheritance by an evil stepmother and ends up penniless and no longer an aristocrat, but still noble, if you get my drift. Then she hears that Colman's been killed in battle and she becomes a nun—the White Sister of the title—but naturally Colman is alive and he returns to marry Gish but now she's married to Jesus and then Mount Vesuvius erupts—don't ask—and really, I'm like melting into a puddle, whimpering like the biggest sissy in the world because this is such a great film.
“Got it.” Karen returns, triumphant.
She models the shoes.
“Great, fab-u-losity. Now I have something for Friday Footwear.”
“No, Robert. You can't show them until after I wear them.”
To be opened after Offspring #3's wedding—in August.
And, oh yeah, Barack Hussein Obama's shameless pandering to the, ahem, Muslim world? One of the most astute commentaries I've read is by Rabbi Steven Pruzansky, our guest lecturer at the Sixth Annual Ariel Avrech Lecture, on June 21.
Karen and I wish all our friends and relatives a lovely and meaningful Shabbat.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 06:55 AM | Comments (13)
June 04, 2009
Rabbi Abraham Avrech: Happy 90th
Baruch HaShem, my father reaches his 90th year today. Born in Poland, he came to America with his mother and brother Chaim z'l, when he was 4 years old. My grandfather, Reb Shmuel, z'l, was a shochet, ritual slaughterer and mohel, specialist in ritual circumcisions.
My father attended Yeshiva Chaim Berlin and then Yeshiva University where he was ordained as a Rabbi. He enlisted as a Chaplain in the U.S. Army, 42nd Division, and served during World War II and the Korean War. “The Army is the best thing that ever happened to me,” my father said. Serving until mandatory retirement, my father was honorably discharged with the rank of Colonel.
My father is one of the Greatest Generation. His family was poor, but he said: “We didn't know we were poor, everyone was poor.”
All his life my father has served family, community and country with selfless devotion.
There is no greater role model.
My father is the little boy on the left. His brother, Chaim, on the right. The woman holding their hands is my great grandmother. Miriam, my grandmother is to the rear. This photo was taken in Poland. The men in uniform are probably relatives, but I don't know who they are.
My father was a star athlete. He excelled in basketball though he's only about 5'5. This is the Yeshiva University basketball team, 1938-39. My father, center, front row, right, holds the ball. Also holding the ball is Rabbi Irving Koslowe, z'l, one of my father's best friends. Rabbi Koslowe went on to be prison Chaplain at Sing-Sing prison. His first duty was to accompany Ethel and Julius Rosenberg to their executions. “She was the strong one,” he told me, “She was a true believer. Not an ounce of remorse.”
Chaplain Avrech leads Jewish services during the Korean war. I once asked my father of what he was most proud during his service in the Army. He told me that once he led Protestant services because there was no Christian Chaplain available. “I did a real mitzvah,” he said.
This photo is captioned: “42nd Division Helicopter Flying test run with Chaplain Avrech also of the 42nd Infantry Division. Photographer: Pvt. Joseph Deflora, 7 August '56.” As you can see by the coffin attached, this helicopter was designed to transport battlefield casualties.
Touching home. My father was a fanatic baseball player. A fast and elegant short-stop, he was so talented he was scouted by the majors. But because my father is Orthodox—Shomer Shabbos, Kosher food, etc.—my father declined an offer to try out for a major league farm team. This shot was taken in a Brooklyn park where Sunday baseball was a ritual. My father is scoring the winning run at the bottom of the 9th inning. It doesn't get any better.
My father worked at Yeshiva University for over 30-years. He was Director of Community Service Division and Director of Alumni. This shot was taken in the early 50's in his YU office. As a child, when my father took me to work I just loved watching him interact with students, Rabbis, and teachers. Every once in a while a student needed a loan. Most YU students were from modest homes. My father would shoo me out of the office when he made the interest free loans from a fund he administered. He didn't want to embarrass the student.
My parents' wedding, 1943. From left to right: Reb Shmuel z'l & Miriam Avrech, z'l, my father's parents. Center: My father, my mother Mina, z'l. Left: Genia, z'l, & David Keiler, z'l, my mother's parents. Right after the wedding—I mean the very next day—my parents were gone to Texas where my father took up his duties as Army Chaplain.
Happy birthday, dad. Ad Meah V'esrim, may you reach 120 years.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 08:06 AM | Comments (30)
June 03, 2009
Fractured Narratives
The left wing narrative goes something like this: Under President George Bush, America's image was degraded in the Arab world, and now President Barack Hussein Obama is rushing to the rescue—cinematic superhero anyone?— to repair these fractured relations.
FLASHBACK
Bosnia.
Kosovo.
Kuwait.
Somalia.
Iraq.
Afghanistan.
END FLASHBACK
Ring any bells?
In each and every country, America went to war to rescue Muslims.
America spent treasure and spilled the blood of her finest sons to assist Muslims.
But this simple truth has no legs because the truth is irrelevant to the left, and because the real issue is values.
The values held dear by Arab Muslim culture—honor, shame—have nothing in common with the values—freedom, democracy—held dear by America.
And there is Israel. The Arab Muslim world will not be satisfied until America abandons Israel. They are counting on Obama to fall in line and shaft the Jewish State.
With all their talk about resolving the Israeli Arab dispute, in truth, the Arab Muslim world thrives on this conflict, it's their excuse for being.
That's why Obama is suddenly playing up his Muslim roots. He wants the Arab Muslim world to know that he's a member of the tribe, a friend.
When we in the opposition suggested that Obama's Muslim roots might be something of a problem we were called racists.
Funny that double standard.
No doubt, Obama is more popular in the Arab Muslim world than President George Bush. Moral relativism goes a long way with academics and ruthless totalitarians.
And, of course, it was under President George Bush that Saddam Hussein—the man who killed and tortured more Muslims on planet earth than anyone else—was ousted from power, reduced to living in a hole in the ground, and then hung by neck.
The Arab Muslim world knows that Barack Hussein Obama will not depose any tyrants; they know that he can be appeased; they know that he represents no threat to backward and savage regimes; they know that his support of Israel was and is just a political fig-leaf; they know that as in Arab Muslim culture, Obama's flowery but empty rhetoric takes the place of reality.
President Obama will be in Cairo, Egypt tomorrow to deliver a—what else?— major address to the Muslim world.
Here's a clip from state sponsored Egyptian TV where Muslim cleric Muhammad Hussein Yaqoub delivers a major address about—what else?—the Jews.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 08:11 AM | Comments (17)
June 02, 2009
Broncho Billy: Son of a Jewish Gun
America’s first cowboy movie star, Broncho Billy Anderson AKA Max Aaronson.
In 1965, a frail old man in a wheelchair appeared in the no-budget western, The Bounty Killer. It is, for those of us who love movies—especially westerns—a deeply bittersweet moment in which the man who invented the western movie hero, takes his last bow on the silver screen.
It is Broncho Billy Anderson’s final role.
The first cowboy hero of the motion pictures was Max Aaronson, (March 21, 1880 – January 20, 1971) a middle-class Jewish kid from Little Rock, Arkansas.
Max’s father, Henry, was a dry goods salesman and his mother Esther, a mother and homemaker. The family moved to St. Louis Missouri in 1883 and here Max, a teenager, was an office clerk like his brothers Jerome, Edward, and Nathaniel. A year later, Max became a cotton-buyer, in partnership with his brother-in-law Louis Roth. But Max was restless, a dreamer—and he was stage struck.
To read my entire article, please head on over to Big Hollywood.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 09:10 AM | Comments (2)
June 01, 2009
Sixth Annual Ariel Avrech, ZT'L Memorial Lecture
The Sixth Annual Ariel Avrech ZT'L Yahrtzeit Lecture will take place Sunday June 21, 2009, at 10 AM at the Young Israel of Century City, followed by a brunch.
Young Israel of Century City
9317 West Pico Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90035
We are pleased to announce that we have engaged Rabbi Steven Pruzansky to present this year’s lecture.
Rabbi Pruzansky is the spiritual leader of Congregation Bnai Yeshurun, a synagogue consisting of nearly 600 families located in Teaneck, New Jersey, and one of the most vibrant centers of Orthodox Jewish life today. He has served since August 1994.
Rabbi Pruzansky graduated from Columbia University in 1978 with a B.A. in history, and received a Juris Doctor degree from the Benjamin Cardozo School of Law in 1981. He practiced law for 13 years as a general practitioner and litigator in New York City until assuming his current pulpit. Rabbi Pruzansky studied in yeshivot in Israel and the United States, and was ordained at Yeshiva Bnei Torah of Far Rockaway, New York under the guidance of Rabbi Yisrael Chait, shlit”a.
He recently served as President of the Rabbinical Board of Bergen County, and currently serves as the Treasurer of the Rabbinical Council of America. He is a trustee of the RCA on the Board of the Beth Din of America, as well as a dayyan on the Beth Din itself. He also served as the American co-spokesman for the International Rabbinic Coalition for Israel. Rabbi Pruzansky served on the Board of Directors of the Jerusalem Reclamation Project, and received their Rabbinic Leadership Award at their 1995 Jerusalem Day banquet.
Rabbi Pruzansky is the author of A Prophet for Today: Contemporary Lessons of the Book of Yehoshua, and Judges for our Time: Contemporary Lessons of the Book of Shoftim.
Rabbi Pruzansky recently entered into the blogosphere with a fine blog appropriately titled: Rabbi Pruzansky's Blog.
The title of Rabbi Pruzansky’s lecture is: Conformity in Jewish Life: Virtue, Vice or Affectation?
Is conformity a Torah ideal, and should we encourage it in our children and communities ? Or does conformity restrict our creative impulses, diminish our simchat hachaim—joy of life—and potentially impair our service of Hashem ? Is there a value in pretending to conform externally ? This lecture will explore the Torah's balance between conformity and individuality.
We look forward to seeing all our friends and relatives at the lecture.
Learning Torah was Ariel's greatest joy. There is no better way of honoring Ariel's memory than by participating in this lecture series.
May Ariel's neshama have an aliyah.
You do not have to RSVP to attend. The lecture and brunch are courtesy of the Avrech Family and Friends.
The lecture will be videotaped and posted on Seraphic Secret for the benefit of those who cannot attend in person.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 09:09 AM | Comments (6)