Category — History

Spot the mistakes.

Speaking at the “Salute to GOP Governors” sponsored by the Republican Jewish Coalition Tuesday in Minneapolis, Jewish radio talk show host Dennis Prager said that though “Republican Jews don’t have a monopoly on nice people, we have a monopoly on wisdom - to discern the difference between good and evil, and how to fight it.

Expressing his support for the Republican ticket, Prager said “Auschwitz was not liberated by peace activists. Gandhi said to the Jews of Europe ‘do not resist Hitler.’ There’s a difference between wisdom and feeling good about yourself. I dare say that the American military brought more goodness on earth than all political science professors put together.”

1) Ghandi is often considered Lincolnesque, a bitter complaint made by the leader of the Untouchables, Ambedkar. To mistake Ghandi for a hippy is just plain silliness, despite this bizarre quote.
2) FDR was not–the last time I checked–a Republican.
3) Churchill was a true idealistic moderate conservative, certainly not some crazy Neocon or corrupt industrialist. To compare the Bush administration to this great man is wicked. To compare McCain to Churchill is risible.
4) The Iraq War is nothing like WWII.

אישים ושיטות caught haredi doctoring of a photo with the Chafetz Chayim in it. See this post for a comparison of the original photo and the new and improved women-deleted one.

Guess which one—the original, or the male-only picture—yeshivas prefer?

Often it requires Jewish education to understand haredi lies and historical revisionism.

But in a case like this, you can see it with your own eyes.

Rabbi Shafran trashes the man whose last name is synonymous with genius. Rabbi Shafran is director of public affairs for Agudath Israel of America, which is the leading ULTRA-Orthodox organization in the U.S.

In his essay respectfully entitled, “Baby Einstein,” Rabbi Shafran notes that, among his many sins and proof of how “wrongheaded” (but not quite “pigheaded”) was, R. Shafran points to Einstein’s agitation that the U.S. stop nuclear testing.

Now, why Einstein would have wanted to stop nuclear testing? Could it be that the great scientist foresaw that in some way, as difficult as it is to fathom, that the radiation fallout would somehow be bad for the environment, and even, dare I say it, people? What was this crazy Lefty dreamer thinking?

Well, if by any chance there are some haredim reading this, for your edification, nuclear fallout is really bad news. Yes, even if you aren’t in the exact area when the bomb goes off. No, really. It is accepted that thousands have died from nuclear testing. And others got sick. The true cost of nuclear testing is probably much higher. And it gets into the water supply. They’re still monitoring this in Nevada. It’s still a problem.

And Rabbi Shafran, in 2008, is criticizing Einstein for suspecting that danger.

Rabbi Shafran is also upset that, “He insisted that a Marxist be appointed the president of a university to which he was to lend his name.”

Marxism is, of course, monolithic. As Shafran notes,

Not that there’s anything wrong with Marxism, of course. No, wait! There is! Wasn’t that the political system that brought us the Soviet Union and its gulags, East Germany and the Berlin Wall, the curtailment of human rights in the People’s Republic of China and the cruel deprivation of the citizenry in North Korea?

That was Communism specifically, Rabbi Shafran. Hardly all Marxists endorsed that, especially western ones.

Anyway, the man Rabbi Shafran is referencing is Harold Laski. Laski was the chairman of the Labour Party in the United Kingdom. Can Rabbi Shafran truly not distinguish between the Labour Party and the dictators of communism?

Rabbi Shafran suggests why Einstein is not in accordance with traditional Jewish thought. It is due to Einstein’s “own childishness, the self-centeredness that he retained from babyhood.”

There are no words. The proper response is as follows:
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I have long wondered how stable Pakistan’s secular regime truly is. I have always been told that the military is secular, and so there is nothing to fear. Ali Eteraz, a truly edifying voice among Jewcy’s arsenal of writers, says something different.

In his review of “Crossed Swords, ” Eteraz notes,

There are important lessons and warnings to be found in the text. For example, the immense number of generals appointed by former Islamist dictator Zia ul Haq — who seized the presidency from Benazir Bhutto’s father in a coup — have not yet taken hold of power. When they do, after the current group of leading generals resign in perhaps five to ten years, Pakistan’s famously secular military may be disposed to take an Islamist turn.

This is the man whom the U.S. chose to funnel–at his discretion–all of our aid to the mujahideen. To the exclusion, to a large degree, of the great Massoud, in stark contrast to the claim of “Charlie Wilson’s War.” Massoud, of course, was killed by Al-Qaeda…two days before 9/11.

I would be interested in hearing what Ali Eteraz has to say about Massoud.

The Catholic Church does not fair well in Oren Jacoby’s adaptation of James Carroll’s book, “Constantine’s Sword: The Church and the Jews: A History.”

I highly recommend seeing it.

To be sure, at times, Jacoby overreaches…and some of it doesn’t all add up, in the off chance than any of you – like me — aren’t as well versed in Christianity as you are in Judaism. I missed some things…like the exact importance of the robe of Jesus. But most of it is all too clear, and as someone with a limited background, I found much of it fascinating.

Did you know Constantine–the man who converted Rome to Christianity–killed his own son?

Carroll nails it when he denounces Pope Benedict’s claim that Nazism was created by “neo-paganism.” Rather, Carroll explains, while this is partially true, Nazism had “two parents,” the other being the Catholic Church.

Additionally, Carroll demonstrates all too clearly how even if maybe you can’t quite say that Pious was “Hitler’s pope,” you can certainly say he was “Hitler’s cardinal.” Unbelievable.

Other great exposes include Ted Haggard’s success in using the United States Air Force Academy as an essentially officially recognized recruiting safari for his specific fundamentalist mega church. And yes, we are talking about THE Ted “I like it in the ass and I’m willing to pay for it” Haggard. The film also covers resistance to Haggard and the evangelical control and harassment of resistors, including Mikey Weinstein and his son.

Overall, if you had any doubts as to the importance of the reinstatement of “The Prayer for the Conversion of the Jews,” well, this should make you realize that it is indeed problematic. The ADL is actually right. I guess when you bark at everyone who walks by you eventually end up barking at someone who deserves it.

After a little love, here, here, and even on Jewlicious itself, the Zionists are regrouping, and defending Chanukah against the incorrigible Litvak apikorism.

(No Hellenists or Idumeans have been harmed in these animated discussions.)

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.

Bet-Nahrain, an affiliate of Assyrian National Congress (ANC), has an interesting understanding of the myth of the Tower of Babel. Apparently, some Assyrians feel this Biblical myth was aimed at them.

Ann-Margaret “Maggie” Yonan writes,

Till this day Babylon implies a degenerate and corrupt civilization that was destroyed by God. How could a degenerate and corrupt society produce such a magnificent culture and civilization? Assyria was known as God’s handwork, but our enemies resented the magnificent culture we had created through our literature, sculpture and science and called for Babylon’s destruction. The Jews wrote that Assyria built the Tower of Babel to fight with God when in fact we built the tower of observation to study the stars and to perfect the science of Astronomy.

What’s amazing is not that this group published an essay about this perceived Biblical slight like it was yesterday, but expects everyone else sees it the same way. Like everyone thinks this is an attack specifically on the Assyrian people. As if when we meet an Assyrian (not a Syrian, but an Assyrian), we are thinking, “Oh, one of those idiots who thinks he can build a tower up to God. What a dumbass!”

You got to love Near-Eastern people. We just don’t let things go, and it’s always about us.

Me: Things were terrible under Dinkins.

Lefty Girl in Politics: Maybe it was the times, not Dinkins.

Me: No. It was Dinkins.

Lefty Girl in Politics: I know. I just thought I should try to promote the party line.

A lot of time is spent in Jewish history looking down on the Romans and Greeks.

The Romans outlawed the forced circumcision of slaves. We claim the slaves wanted this and it was their own volition, but this is exceptionally dubious. We forcibly circumcised our slaves, in accordance with Jewish law, and the Romans made us stop, as they themselves outlawed castrating slaves, and all forms of genital mutilation of slaves.

So my question is, how angry at the Romans should we be? Wasn’t this oppression of the Jewish people? Jewish law was correct, and the Romans were wrong, right?

Right?