Judaism & Christianity

Memorial Day Weekend, 2017

May 28, 2017 by Robert J. Avrech 1 Comment

My father, Rabbi Abraham Avrech, 42nd Div. U.S. Army, Colonel, Ret., conducts services during the Korean War. — My father, Chaplain Rabbi Abraham Avrech, z’l (1919-2014) U.S. Army, 42nd Div., Colonel, Ret., conducts services during the Korean War.

On Memorial Day, we remember all the members of our armed services who paid the ultimate price in service to this great country.

Our eternal gratitude.

Flashback: Hollywood Celebrates Christmas

December 22, 2016 by Robert J. Avrech 6 Comments

Hollywood pioneer Mary Pickford makes Christmas official, 1920s. — Hollywood pioneer Mary Pickford (1892 – 1979) b. Gladys Smith, makes Christmas official, 1920s.

During Hollywood’s Golden Age, the studios, via newspapers, fan magazines, and trade publications, published photos of their stars celebrating Christmas. In this way, Hollywood—though founded by poor immigrant Jews—informed the public that the motion picture industry was in harmony with Christian America.

Seraphic Secret—Karen and I—are Orthodox Jews. We observe the Sabbath and eat only kosher food. Our lives and values are built around the Torah, written and oral. But we enjoy this season, and honor Christmas. We shudder at the relentless postmodern assault on this most Christian of holidays. We want America to remain a steadfastly Judeo-Christian country, for without G-d individual liberty vanishes, replaced, inevitably, by a powerful centralized state, the cult of personality, and various forms of paganism currently exemplified by climate change (AKA the weather) fanatics.

We urge everyone to pray for the Christians who are being murdered, tortured and oppressed by genocidal Islamists all across the Middle East and Africa.

Here’s a sample of Hollywood and Christmas as it used to be.

Male in Female Bathrooms, Modesty Anyone?

April 26, 2016 by Robert J. Avrech 8 Comments

Hasidic mother and daughter enjoy the Liberty Science Center. But is it safe for them to use the restroom?

It’s happening with astonishing speed.

The radical left has moved from the redefinition of marriage to the nullification of gender. If you feel that you are a woman, then justice demands that you and your penis have the right to use the women’s restroom.

Those who disagree are labeled bigots. Giant corporations buckle under pressure from the left for fear of violence and boycotts. A Target in Florida confirmed that men who feel that they are women can use the women’s bathroom.

Pop stars Nick Joans and Demi Lovato have joined a growing list of celebrities who have cancelled concerts in North Carolina over the state’s passage of HB 2, a law governing public restrooms.

As always, the left seeks to demonize and then destroy those who disagree with their increasingly hysterical demands.

Late WWII US Veteran is 1st Soldier Honored for Saving Jews

December 2, 2015 by Robert J. Avrech 7 Comments

Master Sgt. Roddie Edmonds, (Photo: Courtesy of Yad Vashem via AP)

The bad news just keeps on coming. The Arab Muslim Middle East is a vast, borderless slaughterhouse. IslamoNazis are a global scourge that the West foolishly refuses to name.

America, once the leader of the free world, is now led by a feckless fool who drones on about the weather rather than confront the IslamoNazi evil that proudly states its genocidal intentions.

In America, spoiled brats at elite colleges and universities demand totalitarian codes of speech that are positively Orwellian. And the Democrat party is choosing between Bernie Sanders, a Stalinist, and Hillary Clinton, a Socialist.

Thus, it’s a relief to discover the story of an ordinary American soldier whose decency and courage were extraordinary.

JERUSALEM — The Nazi soldiers made their orders very clear: Jewish American prisoners of war were to be separated from their fellow brothers in arms and sent to an uncertain fate.

But Master Sgt. Roddie Edmonds would have none of that. As the highest-ranking noncommissioned officer held in the German POW camp, he ordered more than 1,000 Americans captives to step forward with him and brazenly pronounced: “We are all Jews here.”

Thanksgiving 2015: The Children of the Children of Israel

November 25, 2015 by Robert J. Avrech 11 Comments

Studio photographers shot millions of still photos of their actors, often with holiday themes. This is the one of the few religiously inclined Thanksgiving stills I have come across. The actress is Barbara Kent, a minor star in the silent ear best known for starring opposite Harold Lloyd in “Welcome Danger” 1929. But her very best role was in a little known but quite wonderful silent film “Lonesome,” 1928. — Studio photographers shot millions of stills of contract actors, often with holiday themes. This is a charming Thanksgiving photo. The actress is Barbara Kent, (b. Barbara Cloutman, 1907- 2011) a popular star in the silent era best known for twice starring opposite Harold Lloyd, “Welcome Danger” (1929), and then “Feet First,” (1930). But her very best role was in a little known but quite wonderful silent film “Lonesome,” (1928). Seraphic Secret wrote a memoriam for this lovely actress when she passed away. You can find it here.

As far as I know, there are only two countries in the world that were founded on the idea of hope.

America and Israel.

And what was the hope?

The hope of achieving religious freedom, and freedom from the tyranny of centralized government.

The Children of Israel, fleeing Egyptian slavery and religious persecution, settled the land of Israel over 3,000 years ago, thereby fulfilling G-d’s eternal covenant with the Jewish people.

The Pilgrims saw themselves as the children of the children of Israel, escaping a British Pharaoh and crossing a liquid desert.