May 30, 2010
War is No Joke, Memorial Day 2010
Ruth R. Wisse is Martin Peretz professor ofYiddish literature and professor of comparative literature at Harvard University. This article, War is No Joke, is adapted from her address on May 20 to 13 Jewish cadets graduating from West Point—whose inaugural class of 1802 had two students, one of them a Jew.
I feel exceptionally privileged to address the graduates at this West Point Jewish Baccalaureate Service.
Our society generally tries to spare its young, and prolongs adolescence beyond anything imagined by previous generations. Colleges increasingly act in the role of parents to protect students from conflict, and to keep them from harming themselves. We adults often prefer to sacrifice ourselves rather than to ask help from our children. But soldiering in the defense of the country is a service that only youth can perform. Any society that expects to remain strong and purposeful must have a viable defense, which depends on the young who train for that purpose. Consequently, there are no graduates whom we, as a society, respect more than those prepared to take the lead in protecting our freedoms. Coming as I do from a school where only a handful among several thousand undergraduates join the Reserve Officers Training Corps, I am honored to address graduates who take on military leadership as a matter of choice.
My appreciation also has a personal component. I teach Yiddish, the language and culture of European Jews and their descendants—the language and culture of people who had no independent means of self-defense. Yiddish was created and flourished before the rise of the State of Israel. Although by the end of the 19th century, thousands of Jews were serving in the armies of their respective countries, Yiddish expressed the predicament of Jews who lacked the means to fight on their own behalf. I wrote my doctoral dissertation on a character that embodies this dilemma, “The Schlemiel as Modern Hero.” It begins with a joke:
The Battle of Tannenberg was fought at the start of World War I between the armies of Germany and Russia. The battle is at its height when a czarist officer announces to his company: “The moment has come! We’re going to charge the enemy. It’ll be man against man in hand-to-hand combat.” A Jewish soldier in the company pipes up: “Please, sir. Show me my man! Maybe I can come to an understanding with him.”
For the complete speech, please go to The Weekly Standard.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 12:03 AM | Comments (1)
March 16, 2010
The 2010 Census: Nuremberg, American Style
“I actually feel sick.”
Karen is at her desk studying the 2010 U.S. Census form that just arrived in the mail.
“What's happening to this country?” Karen murmurs, “this obsession with race and color.”
Indeed, the 2010 Census overflows with grim little boxes that demand to know your race, color, ethnicity, and tribe.
The federal government has a dizzying array of racial programs that need to be fed. There are laws, there are grants, there are endless entitlement programs for your every racial/ethnic/gender category.
In 1935, the Germans created the Nuremberg Laws in order to “scientifically” categorize Jews.
I was brought up to believe that only Nazis—and vampires—are obsessed with blood.
I thought we were Americans.
Apparently not.
Bravo for Michele Bachman who refuses to fill out the entire form.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 09:14 AM | Comments (20)
November 11, 2008
Veteran's Day '08
Edward G. Robinson, born Emanuel Goldberg, עמנואל גאלדנבערג visits
American combat troops in 1944.
Never forget the sacrifices that our servicemen have made for the cause of freedom here and abroad.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 09:56 AM | Comments (4)
April 09, 2008
Michael Monsoor, Medal of Honor Winner: Never Forget
Petty Officer 2nd Class Michael A. Monsoor.
Let us turn from the vile Jimmy Carter to a great American hero, Michael A. Monsoor.
President Bush on Tuesday awarded the nation's highest military tribute to a Navy SEAL who was killed when he threw himself on a grenade in Iraq to save his comrades.
The president, blinking back tears, recognized the bravery of Michael A. Monsoor, who was part of a sniper team in Ramadi when he died on Sept. 29, 2006. Bush presented the medal to Monsoor's parents, Sally and George Monsoor, before about 250 guests, including some of his fellow soldiers, in an East Room ceremony.
The emotional ceremony came as the top U.S. general and diplomat in Iraq opened two days of congressional testimony on the status of the war, now in its sixth year. Monsoor was the third Medal of Honor winner from the Iraq war.
"Petty Officer Monsoor distinguished himself by extraordinary heroism on Sept. 29, 2006," press secretary Dana Perino told reporters during a briefing aboard Air Force One as Bush headed to Europe for a NATO summit.
Monsoor was part of a sniper security team in Ramadi with three other SEALs and eight Iraqi soldiers, according to a Navy account. An insurgent fighter threw the grenade, which struck Monsoor in the chest before falling in front of him.
Monsoor then threw himself on the grenade, according to a SEAL who spoke to The Associated Press in 2006 on condition of anonymity because his work requires his identity to remain secret.
To read the complete story, please click here.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 12:00 PM | Comments (6)
March 17, 2008
Planet Berkeley vs. The Marines
The Marines have fought Arab slavers in Tripoli, Japanese fascists on Iwo Jima and Okinawa, Arab jihadists in the streets of Fallujah. Yes, in every American war The Marines have bravely charged into the buzz-saw of enemy fire.
But now the few, the proud, The Marines face their greatest enemy: assymetrical warfare in Planet Berkelely.
These people are not only stupid but hilarious.
Hat Tip: Seraphic Chaver, Kishke.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 10:36 AM | Comments (2)
December 07, 2007
Torah Dedicated to U.S. Military
We're on a roll. Here's a wonderful item about a Torah, handwrittten according to halacha, Jewish law, and dedicated to our troops, past and present.
Gee willikers, if this keeps up, I might actually turn on the TV, look at Hillary and not scream: "Bolshevik She-Devil."
That's how good I'm feeling.
A Jewish scribe, using a feather quill, wrote the final words in a torah Sunday, fulfilling a mother's dream.
The Liberty Torah, handwritten in tiny letters on a scroll, honors members of the U.S. military, present and past.
About 200 people, including veterans and Holocaust survivors, attended the ceremony where the torah was dedicated at Channel Islands Harbor in Oxnard.
“This is the least that we feel we could do in the beautiful tradition that we're in the current of,” said Rabbi Dov Muchnik, director of the Chabad of Oxnard, who led the ceremony. “This is a moment of togetherness we hope we have embodied here.”
The Torah was inspired by Edi Boxstein, whose son, Cpl. Jonathan Boxstein, served in Iraq and is scheduled to return in about two months.
To read the complete article and view pictures, please click here.
Karen and I wish all our friends a beautiful and profound miracle in Shabbat. And a powerful Chanukah experience.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 12:48 PM | Comments (4)
Chanukah in Iraq
This is lovely, and just what we need as we head into Shabbos and the fourth night of Chanukah.
It’s not just the cultural and religious sensitivities that make celebrating Hanukkah “downrange” in a predominantly Muslim land a bit of a challenge.
It’s the little things, too — like finding out that the base dining facility does not have kosher sour cream, seemingly a must for any potato latkes worth the name.
While the ceremonies do not come close to reaching the fever pitch associated with Christmas on bases downrange, servicemembers at several bases in Iraq paused Tuesday night to mark the first of Hanukkah’s eight nights.
To read the entire article from Stars and Stripes, please click here.
Hat tip: Republican Jewish Coalition
Here's a nice history of Chanukah by Joshuapundit.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 12:29 PM | Comments (1)
July 31, 2007
Examination
“They tried to, how to say it, wash my mind?’
“Brainwash you?”
“Yes, that is it, exactly.”
The Doctor is in his mid to late sixties. Thin as a celery stalk, he is exquisitely polite as he simultaneously conducts a physical for my life insurance policy, and slowly, haltingly reveals his life story. Shy and painfully reserved, the physician is almost apologetic about offering up the harrowing details.
“After the Americans left, the Communists arrested us and put us in camps — just like what they did to your people, how do you call them?”
“Concentration camps?”
“Yes, concentration camps. Roll up your sleeve, please, so I can take blood pressure.”
“What happened in the camps?”
“They forced us work, day and night, and they washed our minds, brainwashed us with Communism and atheism. There was very little food.”
“When you say we, who do you mean?”
The Doctor stops and looks at me. His gaze feels like an x-ray penetrating skin, blood, bones.
“Did I take speak your blood pressure numbers?”
“No, not yet.”
“I remember the camp and my family and what happened, and the memory is —”
His voice breaks off.
The Doctor concentrates, takes my blood pressure, inscribes the numbers on the insurance form. Pleased with the results, the Doctor smiles and says something, but I have no idea what he's saying for he's speaking in French.
"Pardon, I do not speak Francais.”
He is startled.
“Really, all my Jewish friends speak a beautiful French.”
“Not this Jewish man.”
“I receive my original medical training in French”
He bows ever so slightly, and apologizes. Believe it or not, I return the bow. It just seems, y'know, the polite thing to do.
The good Doctor wants me to lay down so he can hook me up for an EKG. I move towards Ariel's ZT'L room.
Karen steps up, and says:
“Are you sure you want to do that in there?”
I look at Ariel's bed. Remember all the years we spent with our beloved son, nursing him in that bed.
“Let's go to the guest room,” I suggest.
Karen and I lock gazes. Always, always, we are in this together.
The Doctor hooks me up for the EKG, continues the examination.
And I continue my examination.
“How did you resist the brainwashing in the camps?”
“I am Buddhist.”
“You say you had family in the concentration camp, can you tell me how many, and what happened to them?”
“Five brothers and five sisters. The North Vietnamese Communists killed them; murdered my five brothers, murdered my five sisters. Killed my entire family.”
“Baruch Dayan Emet,” I whisper.
The portable EKG machine chimes: Beep! Beep! Beep!
“Very nice, very good heart.”
“That's a relief.”
Rolling up the EKG printout, the Doctor muses out loud:
“Americans do not understand what happened after they left Vietnam. Americans do not realize what the Communists did to us. Americans do not understand the great killing that happened.”
“I'm sorry.”
The Doctor jots down some notes on his company forms. His handwriting is neat and meticulous.
“I'm sorry,” I repeat.
I sound so stupid, so lame. I actually feel guilty for the slaughter of his five brothers, his five sisters.
The Doctor inclines his head, and with no hint of bitterness says:
“I escaped into the jungle. I was lucky, and became a boat person. I came to America. I love this country. But still — Americans do not understand.”
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 10:34 AM | Comments (22)
July 04, 2007
Declaration of Independence: The Aftermath
The following was submitted by "Mike" in honor of the hundreth anniversary of the National Rifle and Pistol Championships at Camp Perry.
Have you ever wondered what happened to the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence?
Five signers were captured by the British, charged as traitors, and tortured before they died.
Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned.
Two lost their sons serving in the Revolutionary Army; another had two sons captured.
Nine of the 56 fought and died from wounds or hardships of the Revolutionary War. They signed and pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor.
What kind of men were they?
Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists. Eleven were merchants, nine were farmers and large plantation owners; men of means, well educated. But they signed the Declaration of Independence knowing full well that the penalty would be death if they were captured.
Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader, saw his ships swept from the seas by the British Navy. He sold his home and properties to pay his debts, and died in rags.
Thomas McKean was so hounded by the British that he was forced to move his family almost constantly. He served in the Congress without pay, and his family was kept in hiding. His possessions were taken from him, and poverty was his reward.
Vandals or soldiers looted the properties of Ellery, Hall, Clymer, Walton, Gwinnett, Heyward, Rutledge, and Middleton.
At the battle of Yorktown, Thomas Nelson Jr., noted that British General Cornwallis had taken over the Nelson home for his headquarters. He quietly urged General George Washington to open fire. The home was destroyed, and Nelson died bankrupt.
Francis Lewis had his home and properties destroyed. The enemy jailed his wife—she died within a few months.
John Hart was driven from his wife's bedside as she was dying. Their 13 children fled for their lives. His fields and his gristmill were laid to waste. For more than a year he lived in forests and caves, returning home to find his wife dead and his children vanished. A few weeks later he died from exhaustion and a broken heart.
Norris and Livingston suffered similar fates.
Such were the stories and sacrifices of the American Revolution. These were not wild-eyed, rabble-rousing ruffians. They were soft-spoken men of means and education. They had security, but they valued liberty more. Standing tall, straight, and unwavering, they pledged: "For the support of this declaration, with firm reliance on the protection of the divine providence, we mutually pledge to each other, our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor."
They gave you and me a free and independent America. The history books never told you a lot about what happened in the Revolutionary War. We didn't fight just the British. We were British subjects at that time and we fought our own government.
Some of us take these liberties for granted, but we shouldn't. So, take a few minutes while enjoying your 4th of July holiday and silently thank these patriots. It's not much to ask for the price they paid.
Remember: Freedom is never free!
We hope you will show your support by sending this to as many people as you can. It's time we get the word out that patriotism is not a sin, and the Fourth of July has more to it than beer, picnics, and baseball games.
God Bless all of you and may God Bless America!
Hat Tip: Seraphic Friend, Peter Stevenson M.D.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 02:58 PM | Comments (14)
The Pursuit of Happiness
The minhag, the tradition, of Seraphic Secret, is to publish the Declaration of Independence on July 4th. Too many of us have never read it, or if we have, we were in high school, and grimly forced ourselves to read it in order to pass a test.
It is a magnificent document.
My favorite phrase: The Pursuit of Happiness. This is, perhaps, the single most important idea in our founding document. Happiness is at the core of freedom and liberty. A citizen cannot be happy if he is alienated from the state to which he is a member. This is a great and noble idea. A concept that the Jewish people well understand.
For many Jews, true joy comes from the study of Torah. I remember when I used to step into the Beis Midrash, the study hall of Ner Yisroel Rabbinical College, where our son, Ariel ZT'L was a student, the young men, hundreds of them, each engrossed in the profound give and take of Talmudic study, was glowing with joy.
America has given American Jews the opportunity to live as true Torah Jews and as full American citizens.
Yes, the pursuit of happiness is an idea that is worth fighting and dying for.
Read this Declaration of Independence. Absorb the words. Marinate in the notions of freedom, and liberty.
And then, cruise over to Seraphic Friend Op For for a fine explanation of the difference between freedom and liberty. Op For also publishes the Declaration. Great minds, yadda, yadda. So you can read The Declaration twice.
In Congress, JULY 4, 1776
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America
When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
John Hancock
New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton
Massachusetts:
John Hancock, Samuel Adams*, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry
Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery
Connecticut:
Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott
New York:
William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris
New Jersey:
Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon**, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark
Pennsylvania:
Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross
Delaware:
Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean
Maryland:
Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton
Virginia:
George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee***, Carter Braxton
North Carolina:
William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn
South Carolina:
Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton
Georgia:
Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton
*Ancestor of Famous Beer
**Reese Witherspoon's ancestor
***Ancestor of Confederate General Robert E. Lee
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 09:41 AM | Comments (14)
Main