Sunday, March 29, 2009

"Strings of Freedom"

An Arab teen orchestra recently played a concert for Holocaust survivors (Jewish, obviously), and were forced to disband by the "Palestinian Authority" (two one-word lies wrapped in a two-word lie...) This incident shows us two things- first, that there are some groups who are actually trying to build connections between Jews and Arabs, and they should be commended. Secondly, the very group which is considered to be moderate, and with whom Israel is negotiating, is truly radical and anti-Semitic. Fatah is just Hamas in sheep's clothing. May we all be blessed to someday hear Arab songs instead of Arab shooting.
Links to this article:
Arutz Sheva
Ynet
Vos Iz Neias

Monday, March 23, 2009

Bob is Back (But He Was Never Gone)

Dylan, who is coming out with a new album on April 28th, has this to say in his new interview:
What's your take on politics?
Politics is entertainment. It's a sport. It's for the well groomed and well heeled. The impeccably dressed. Party animals. Politicians are interchangeable.
Don't you believe in the democratic process?
Yeah, but what's that got to do with politics? Politics creates more problems than it solves. It can be counter-productive. The real power is in the hands of small groups of people and I don't think they have titles.
Amen.

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

R' Adin Steinsaltz on Purim

R' Steinsaltz has formulated beautifully a fact that is essential to understanding antisemitism:
As anti-Semitism is irrational in essence, we may be able to defend ourselves against it, but we have no way of uprooting it. Jewish attempts in the last hundreds of years to resolve the problem using opposite means – extreme assimilation on the one hand, and the establishment of an independent state on the other hand – did not resolve the problem, but rather, merely changed or diverted it to other avenues.
His whole article on Purim and antisemitism can be found here.
R' Steinsaltz teaches us that
Amalek’s seed is still in the world, and it flourishes even in our cosmopolitan and enlightened era.
We can fight Amalek by doing two things, both learned from Purim: We can fight, and we can laugh. We can even do both at the same time, because when we laugh we say "Jah controls everything, what are we worrying about?". This is the meaning of a lottery, a pur, because a lottery isn't random. It is divinely controlled, without any human interference. We submit to Jah's will. That too is why we drink- we acknowledge that no matter how rational we think ourselves to be, God is still running the show, so truly a drunk man is as sober as a sober man.
May this Purim make us all drunk with God, whether we are drunk with alchohol or not.

Friday, March 6, 2009

We need a Purim, and we are going to get it!

Money is being thrown at the Ancient Palestinian people, much of which will undoubtedly go towards murdering Jews. Ehud Olmert, of the hit Comedy Central TV show "The Olmert Report", also known as "The Israeli Government", thinks that to reach peace, we should divide Jerusalem again, because it worked out so well before 1967... Ahmedinajad, today's Haman, may soon have nuclear weapons. There has never been a more opportune for Purim.

On Purim we can say that "Blessed is Haman", and "Cursed is Mordechai". We realize that everything is in the hands of Jah, so we should stop worrying, have something to drink, and, if necessary, go and kill those who want to destroy us (just don't loot). May we remember on this Parshat Zachor to erase the name of Amalek, because only by remembering can we truly forget.

Stand and Be Counted!