Posts from — November 2007

Chanukah is coming, but what do you get the frummie whose rabbi has all the answers? Fortunately, despair.com has the perfect gift — a secular calendar with which to plan our days in between three day yom tovs and the mourning periods.

Joey Kurtzman insists I am wrong about Nick Griffin. He says that Griffin is a Nazi, and that I am needlessly hairsplitting between the British National Party and a hardline neo-Nazi one whose logo Jewcy used to represent Griffin, even though it’s the wrong group and one shouldn’t do that period and we both know that but whatever, that wasn’t the main point even though it was implied but fine, there is no contest on that so, no, I guess you really didn’t need to go into it.

Anyway.

I have to say that I was starting to feel a little unsettled that I was attempting to mitigate the disreputation of a man considered a Nazi by everyone at Jewcy. Three different Jewcy writers conflated Nick Griffin’s with those of neo-nazis.

But one does not. Mr. John Derbyshire, a top notch columnist who writes for Jewcy, wrote two years ago (though not on Jewcy) that,

Nick Griffin, the BNP head, has been conducting a purge of Stalinesque ruthlessness against the old anti-Semitic National Front types. FrontPageMag’s Robert Locke tells the story here. All the BNP’s xenophobic propaganda is now concentrated against Muslims. Jews are O.K., on the principle that my enemy’s enemy is my friend.

I think I may know where our disconnect may be – looking to a prominent non-Jewish conservative columnist is helpful. Let’s look at Derbyshire’s analysis a little further…

The Far Right may not be your cup of tea; but they’re out there, and with intelligent leadership, a tailwind of economic disgruntlement, and the dawning realization among white people in the West that they have, by foolish policies, made themselves into a minority in their own countries,

Derbyshire, a paleoconservative, shares a concern over immigration with the far-right, even though he himself is not far-right. That concern is exacerbated when the mass immigrant population in question is deemed not only as different from, but hostile to the host country’s majority population and culture. Hence, Derbyshire will view resistance to Muslim immigration itself as no longer a strictly far-right issue, even if the organization pushing immigration restriction itself remains far-right. Derbyshire never the less perceived a shift towards legitimacy.

I am guessing that Joey does not necessarily see a need to differentiate between taking a hard-line on such racial and cultural sentiments over immigration and focusing on “the Jewish Question,” and therefore sees no reason to alter his perception of Griffin’s BNP, despite his shift of focus away from “the Jewish Question.”

If this is the case, what Jewcy and I are arguing about is not really Griffin at all, but our disparate views about aspects of immigration itself. But if that’s the case, Jewcy needs to bring back Mr. Derbyshire, and debate him themselves on immigration, and ask him the tougher questions they think they have, and offer more nuanced defenses than that poor HIAS director—properly bound and reasonably gagged by organizational mandate so as not to risk a casualty of any significant value — whom they offered up as a sacrifice to their own nagging doubts.

If you or someone you know is in the mechinah program, please ask them if they will be willing to contact me for a story. I don’t know where it will be published yet, but it is my intention to do a story on YU’s grading of morning prayer services — for BTs, and only for BTs.

Arab and black “children of immigrants” are rioting in France, and the AP Newswire seems to be sympathizing with the rioters, noting,

“Youths, many of them Arab and black children of immigrants, again appeared to be lashing out at police and other targets seen to represent a French establishment they feel has left them behind.”

Isn’t that a satisfactory reason to shoot policemen and attack–wait for it–the FIREMEN?!? CLEARLY the FIREMEN have not done ENOUGH to make sure these assholes “don’t feel left behind.”

Am I being overly sensitive to language and an ascribed motive that sounds a bit absurd? What does “feel they left behind” really mean? Is that the reason for all of this anti-social activity?

And the AP notes that these people are “trapped in poor neighborhoods.”

If so, perhaps these people should return to their former, originating countries in Africa, like say, Algeria or Somalia, where they will surely be treated in a more ecumenical fashion, and the dictators in charge–or leaders of the various warring factions– will sit down with them (even after they shoot at them, of course) and ask, “What can we do to make you feel more a part of our respectful and inclusive multi-cultural liberal-democratic society?”

Please wish the great Sarkozy much love and strength in his resolve. We Jews need to offer European nations solidarity as they are besieged by fundamentalist inspired violence, and assure them that they have every right to take proper and stern measures to ensure their nation’s well being and security. They need our nod of understanding. We must give it to them. Or we are both morally deficient, and really, really naive.

Like most BT (baal teshuvah) males I know with a more typical American liberal arts focus and who are not descendants of Holocaust survivor families, I found Shabbat at YU a miserable experience. I strongly encourage normative American Jews who become Orthodox to attend a regular college campus. And I am still waiting to find out if there is any change planned in forcing the BTs (and only the BTs) to wake up futz fetag by grading them for attending shachris.

Never the less, Yeshiva College has done one thing right.

For the first time a month ago, The Commentator reported,

On the weekend of October 26, Mechinah held the program’s first co-ed shabbaton. Altogether, 40 men and 24 women from the two programs spent Shabbat together in Englewood, NJ. The 40 men represent the largest turnout for a Mechinah shabbaton to date.

This is a great development, and I applaud this direction. BTs do not go to the same schools or summer camps like regular Modern Orthodox students at YU, and they need a way to meet and spend time with their own in a mixed gender environment. And with all due respect to the Modern Orthodox, we soul searching Jews from secular families have little to do with their bad music, their reflexive conservative politics, their obsession with Israel and only Israel, their materialism, their preference for the worst blockbusters, and their ceaseless babbling about Torah U’ Mada. If given the choice between a typical right-wing Modern Orthodox Shabbat dinner with all its inanity and being subjected to a far-Left, virulently anti-Zionist panel, I would choose the latter, because at least they would be kind enough to recognize me as dangerous force instead of a weirdo who doesn’t follow sports.

Still…after helping out some friends today in Washington Heights, I saw Rabbi Blau, and though we didn’t stop and chat, we exchanged nods, and I have to admit, it was really nice to see him. He’s a great rabbi. I even felt strange softness towards YU for a second…

But then it passed.

Also, I recently had some static with getting them to send my transcript. It was a real pain in the ass. So in this magnanimous state with a curled lip, I just want to throw it out there that if there are any BTs who are having problems in YU, and the administration is not responding to your plight, you can always email me and let me know what is happening, and I will see what I can do to expose this situation. Because even if large swaths of YU treat you like dirt because anyway you don’t “fit the mold,� they will respond to your complaints when they surface in the public view. Remember, the vast sum of their money comes from Jews like us. Not like them. They mistreat you at their own peril.

My offer only goes for BTs. If you are a regular FFB who attends YU and has issues, go somewhere else. I have no general issue with YU, and wish them well, and would prefer to not think about the place.

So…does anyone know if they are still waking up the BTs for shachris?

“This party has finally cast off the leg iron of anti-Semitism and not a moment too soon.” — Nick Griffin, 2005

Jewcy has printed two separate post about tonight’s debate including David Irving and Nick Griffin. The debate about the debate, as framed by the luftmentschen hipsters, is only one of free speech versus limits on free speech. I would like to focus on something different.

Firstly, forget David Irving, who, as a Holocaust Denier “historian,� is less interesting to me, and indeed, a man who can only be defended on free speech grounds. But Nick Griffin, the head of the far-right BNP, is more interesting. We should not be conflating these two men. They disagree on many things. Not least of all, the Jews. And yet, Jewcy chose a symbol of November 9th Society to represent the debate, even though the November 9th Society is a hardline neo-Nazi party that is quite critical of the British National Party for being mere “conservatives on steroids.� That Jewcy chose their logo (replete with swastika, of course) to represent Nick Griffin is as risible as it is shrill.

The BNP is the most popular overtly anti-Muslim group in England. Now I know I should find that horrible, and I know for a fact that they say horrible things that I find disgraceful. But I also know that England—like so much of Europe—is under siege. The book “Londonistan� enjoys popularity because of this reality. And it is a reality.

Now, you can (and some surely will) point to overt and disturbing antisemitism of select members of the BNP. But that isn’t the BNP’s policy. More importantly, antisemitism isn’t the BNP’s focus. Islam is. Absolutely. And Griffin is a critical voice – even if not always the most delicate one – in urging the British to stand up to those who seek to Islamify England’s own wonderful culture and norms. But Peter Tatchell is disingenuous about that focus, writing,

“Nick Griffin is the leader of a far right party, the BNP, which has a history of promoting racism, homophobia, antisemitism and prejudice against Muslims.�

As if the BNP’s concern over Islamicization is irrational, only fueled by “prejudice,” and low on the list of BNP concerns. In fact, under Griffin’s leadership, the BNP does not promote antisemitism. And though Griffin has been ineffective in ridding the BNP of antisemitic elements, he has been quite successful in changing its focus.

And a little fairness to the British people, please. I don’t believe they are headed to fascism. I don’t think that’s the kind of people we are dealing with. We are dealing with the greatest resistors to Nazism, and that is no small footnote in their collective conscious. Churchill is considered by the British people to be the greatest Briton – ever.

What the BNP could accomplish is pushing the envelope on reducing or even ending Muslim immigration, as well as pressuring England to stop ever-increasing capitulation to fundamentalist Muslim demands. And quite frankly, I don’t see either of those achievable goals as a bad thing at all. But that’s for the British themselves to work out. They don’t need the likes of us protecting them from Nick Griffin’s ideas, but there is more reason to not want Griffin silenced than the sole issue of free speech. And Jewcy, which at least is sometimes willing to ask the tougher questions, has elected to instead confine itself to an easy one, through dishonest conflation. And that, dear readers, is a wasted opportunity.

Bernie Sanders has a question.

I like Senator Schumer. But the most important contribution Chuck Schumer made so far to the United States was to clear the way for Bernie Sanders to become senator.

My trip to Amsterdam was, in many ways, both a vindicating and infuriating experience. It suffers from some of the same problems we have in our cities. But it also doesn’t suffer at all from some of the problems we are besieged by.

For years, I have complained that we don’t build better mass transit. And for years I have been told by friends and acquaintances that a mature adult must have a car, and he must designate a good portion of his disposable income and incur debt for this machine and its fuel.

There are 16,000,000 Dutch. And there are 16,000,000 bikes. I can’t help but suspect that Critical Mass was started in part by those who had been to Amsterdam. While certainly not every chapter or participant is riding for the same reason, or even any reason at all, I believe for many, this is a protest of sorts against the preference for and assumed supremacy of the automobile.

The wait for the tram during the day is nominal. The wait even in the middle of the night is not so bad. And Amsterdam is hardly a massive city,

I hope one day we will change our stupid ways, though I have my doubts. But people can only claim that they don’t want to do so. I know now – first hand – that it absolutely can be done.

And it is a beautiful thing.

I had no intention of blogging while on vacation, unless there was a life changing event or an emergency. This is the former. Pandora is now offering classical music!!! This is HUGE! Classical music listening may return in a serious way, more widespread than ever before. For those of you who are interested in classical music, or any music, please do check out Pandora. This is so massive, and such a major step for those of us who love both music, and the best of western civilization.

My Mom taught me that classical music is in some ways dominated by the “Three Bs”: Bach; Beethoven; Brahms.

I also like Stravinsky, Mahler, and Chopin (very accessible!). Schumann and Schubert are nothing to sneer at either.

Pandora is free. This is not just a great thing for music lovers, this is a great day for the spread of higher western civilization.

I played the violin for many years, since i was four years old. This is–too me–part of the Ashkenazi heritage. We are a part of this, even if we did not make are mark from a composition standpoint as disproportionately as we prefer. But we do have our composers. In the U.S., we dominate. Copland, Gershwin, and Bernstein are–for the U.S.– critical composers of the 20th century. But unfortunately, the U.S. is not itself a major contributor to the larger canon.

Sometimes even a die hard New Yorker needs a break, so I’m heading out to Old Amsterdam, the City of Spinoza, and returning, meertz Hashem, for Thanksgiving with my family. I don’t think I will be blogging from Amsterdam, because as the folks at Cross-Currents always say, “If you think you’re too baked to blog, you are too baked to blog.�

So wish me well. And just one final thing, before I head out…

This time of year is often the time when some religiously minded Jewish blogs tackle the issue of Thanksgiving as a nisht pushet (not simple) controversy. True, the haredi Agudath Israel makes sure to have their annual conference on “what is called Thanksgiving Weekend,� (Good Grief!) but what do I care? You sure as shit aren’t going to see that kind of contempt for Thanksgiving from the Orthodox Union, who, unlike the Agudah, was born and bred right here in the good ole U.S. of A. So I paid it little mind at first. Sure, it is expected fare for a site like BeyondBT to discuss (a lot), but the administrators are quite supportive of those who celebrate Thanksgiving, and David Linn is careful to note that he personally celebrates Thanksgiving, and everyone is encouraged to be sensitive to family needs.

And yet…this “controversy� just won’t go away. I can’t believe who actually takes this “shayla� seriously. WTF is the problem? It’s (for my family, anyway) a kosher turkey dinner with kosher wine, with family and friends, with my father reminding us how lucky we all are to be here, and to be grateful. Our rabbi and rebbetzin stop by, and they’re Orthodox. I mean, Jesus Christ, we’re not bowing down to a statue of Zeus over here. It’s not like Chanukah. So when I saw Jewbiquitous treating this as a serious issue, with a headline even seeming to side with those who sought to forbid Thanksgiving celebrations, I became concerned, and quite frankly, a little upset. And it’s time to set them and whoever else is treating this meshegas seriously straight. And yes, I have been waiting a year to do this. So take a beat. Cause now the jokes stop, and I say what I have been meaning to say for awhile.

The question of whether it is kosher to celebrate Thanksgiving or not is a post-war phenomenon, appropriate only for post-war haredim. For those of us whose families came before, like mine, this is not a question, nor should it be. Those rabbis and communities who question it often come from post-war communities that have “treifa medina� residue. These people have no right to pasken for us on American issues (or really, on any issues), because our families wisely defied their leadership by coming here in the first place. They are the rabbinical heirs to those haredi leaders who gave some really, really stupid advice. At best. They have absolutely no business telling ANYONE whose family came here prior to WWII ANYTHING regarding America. They should stick to dictating to their own insular communities.

And you, or any BT, really, has no business even considering their position on such issues. They insisted that our families should stay in Russia and Eastern Europe. Be thankful your ancestors dismissed their exhortations about going to the “treifa medinah,� or if they were survivors, be thankful they made it here eventually.