Kesher Talk: 09/08/2002

Saturday, September 14, 2002

". . . false witnesses have risen up against me, and those who breathe violence. . . " From Psalm 27, recited every day for a month before Rosh Hashanah, and through the 10 days of t'shuvah that follow. This is a bit late, but here is a lovely commentary on the psalm (with both the Hebrew original and an English translation) and how to use it during this period of self-examination. You don't have to be Jewish (or even religious at all) to use this guide. Bookmark it for next year.

Psalm 27 has been a comforting companion as I prepared for the Yamim Noraim, made the rounds of live and blogged 9-11 memorials (next week I may write about the live ones here in New York), deal with a close relative's terminal illness, and look forward in hope and dread to intensification of the war we are already in. So here is my pre-Yom Kippur entry. Gmar chatima tova, every one of us.

Adonai is my light and my life. Whom shall I fear?
Adonai is the foundation of my life. Whom shall I dread?
When evil-doers assail me to devour my flesh,
It is they -- my adversaries and enemies -- who stumble and fall.
Should an army besiege me, my heart would not fear.
Should war beset me
Even then would I be confident.
One thing I ask of Adonai,
Only this do I seek: to live in the house of Adonai all the days of my life,
to behold the beauty of Adonai, to frequent his Temple.
For Adonai will conceal me in his sukkah on an evil day,
and hide me in the covert of his tent,
raise me up high on a rock.
And now my head will be lifted up above my enemies all around me
And I will offer sacrifices in [Adonai's] tent
with the sound of trumpets.
I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to Adonai.
Hear my voice, Adonai, when I cry out
have mercy on me and answer me.
"For yourself," says my heart.
"Seek My face."
Adonai, I seek Your face.
Do not hide Your face from me.
Do not push aside Your servant in anger.
You have always been my help.
Do not forsake me, do not abandon me, O Lord my deliverer.
For my father and my mother abandon me, but Adonai gathers me up.
Show me Your way, Adonai,
and lead me on a level path
because of my ever-watchful foes.
Deliver me not over unto the will of my adversaries
For false witnesses have risen up against me
and those who breathe violence.
If I had not believed to look upon the goodness of God,
[I would no longer be] in the land of the living.
Look to Adonai.
Be strong and of good courage.
Look to Adonai !

Salon to Sullivan: Fisk away! I like Salon's "lifestyle" essays, although - like many pro-war liberals - I am increasingly out of sympathy with the political slant of both the writers and the readers. But now they have invited Andrew Sullivan to provide some balance:

My friends at Salon called me earlier this summer with an intriguing offer: Would I care to engage their readers with a weekly fusillade directed against some random stupidity coming from (very broadly speaking) the left? Who could say no to such an offer? I regularly rail against the left on my Web site, but it was irresistible to do so in Salon, widely read by liberals (as well as open-minded conservatives). So here goes. There's no fixed day this little feature will appear. But I'll post once a week, whenever a foolish, unsubstantiated, malevolent or just plain dumb specimen of lefty rhetoric flies down the DSL line.

He then proceeds to fisk Frank Rich, and this week went after Susan Sontag (a very easy target, I must say, but he has fun with her).

Damian Penny looks nothing like I imagined. For some reason I thought of him as having an Abraham Lincoln type beard . . .

Friday, September 13, 2002

Have an easy fast: Yom Kippur starts on Sunday night. I wish all of you who are fasting an easy fast, and may you be inscribed in the Book of Life. May we all still be here when the book closes on Monday night... cause who would want to miss Monday Night Football?

Amen.

Superstition and Friday the 13th: The Sacramento Bee published an article of mine today on the dangers of superstition and rummy thinking.

Thursday, September 12, 2002

CAIR Canada fiddles its own polling north of the border: Like the bogus poll put out by the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) (debunked by yours truly on Monday), the Canadian CAIR outfit ran its own email, etcetera poll. Polling "296 Muslims from across Canada," CAIR Canada discovered that 60 percent claimed to have experienced bias or discrimination since the 9/11 terrorist attacks and 82 percent claimed to know another Muslim who had faced such troubles - a similar result to what CAIR discovered in their poll in the U.S. CAIR Canada's chair even had a Globe & Mail article on September 12 bemoaning the state of things.

But because the poll was done by email and simply handed out to people at whim, it amounts to nothing. I've read tea leaves that were more scientific than CAIR Canada's poll.

Here is the letter to the editor I just submitted to the Globe & Mail:

The poll referred to by Sheema Khan, conducted by the Council on American Islamic Relations, Canada, is garbage.

Only a random sample survey could come up with results representative of the Canadian Muslim experience. CAIR Canada's poll, conducted by e-mail and handed out to whomever wanted to respond, is a self-selected sample. It only represents the opinions and experiences of the people who happened to be contacted and respond.

There were surely acts of bias and discrimination against Canadian Muslims following 9-11. But CAIR Canada's silly attempts to document them unnecessarily belittle the problem.

Sadam is bad, but it is all Israel's fault? British MP Peter Ainsworth writes in the Spectator this week (Sep. 14) that, yes, indeed, Sadaam is bad. Really bad. He does not obviously quibble with any of the points laid out by President Bush before the speech he made at the UN today.

However, as Ainsworth points out, he thinks we should not invade Iraq because we haven't made Israel stop oppressing the Palestinians yet:

The nub of the region’s problems lies in the miserable and continuing conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. From this festering sore has poured out more than 30 years of insecurity, hatred and violence. A year ago, a tributary of this tide of grief reached Manhattan and Washington. It is reasonable to ask, therefore, what role a US-led war against Iraq would have in stemming the wound. It is by no means clear that the hawks on Capitol Hill have asked themselves this question, and even less clear that they have an answer. Would an attack on Iraq, especially one undertaken without UN approval, be more or less likely to bring about a lasting deal between Israel and the Palestinians? It is hard to imagine anything more conducive to prolonging and deepening the bitterness which already exists.

Ainsworth does not explain how Sadaam's evil behavior is driven by the "festering sore" of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Or how Bin Laden, who made the focus of his (now presumed ended) life the destruction of the U.S. and the West, was driven by the "tide of grief" from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Luckily, Ainsworth leaves the solution implicit rather than speaking his mind. He simply uses the Israel problem as a foil, to deflect any possible attack on Iraq, because it would not solve the 'root cause.'

Ainsworth's main concern is with being called unpatriotic, as he explains in his first paragraph: "As the likelihood of war grows, raising questions gets even harder. It becomes unpatriotic." He even concludes on this point: "Yes, I expect that I will be called unpatriotic."

What patriotism has to do with his argument remains unclear. I guess that is just supposed to be implied too.

Please feel free to e-mail Mr. Ainsworth and let him know what you think: ainsworthp@parliament.uk

Cynthia McKinney... for PRESIDENT? According to the Associated Press, that may be her new battle cry. Recently ousted from her Georgia Congressional seat by "the J-E-W-S" (as her father Billy explained, shortly before getting ousted from the Georgia State House), Cynthia may be mulling a run for U.S. President, under the banner of the Green Party. This according to Green Party activists:

McKinney hasn't revealed her plans, but Green Party officials say many of her views make her a perfect fit either to lead the ticket or serve as 2000 nominee Ralph Nader's vice presidential choice, should he decide to run again. More than 50 Green Party activists from across the nation traveled to Georgia to help McKinney in the final days of her primary campaign against Denise Majette.

Adam Eidinger, who is the Green Party's nominee for "shadow representative" in Washington D.C., which doesn't have a voting member of Congress, said the odds are "50/50" that McKinney would switch parties before she leaves office in January.

"She's very interested," Eidinger said. "I've asked her to her face twice if she would run. I told her, 'You are on the very short list of people in this country the Green Party would like to draft to run for president. Would you do it?' Her exact words were: 'Sure."'

Alright so no guarantees there. This could just be Green nonsense. But who knew there was so much dissatisfaction with Ralph Nader?

I must also point out that I grew up with Adam Eidinger, the prospective Green nominee for DC shadow congressman. He was elected class president in high school with a Bart Simpson-esque campaign promising to lengthen lunch hours, shorten the school day, turn wine into water, and so forth. He is one of the sleeziest populist power-seekers I've ever encountered. Luckily, he is on the short road to no-where.

However, Green Party activists who know McKinney well say a national run also interests her and that she is being encouraged by high-level officials who figure her presence in a potential race against Nader could give the party a nationally watched primary.

"She, to me, expressed that was something she would consider," said Jason Kafoury, who took a leave of absence from his job as national coordinator for Democracy Rising, a group Nader founded, to campaign for McKinney. "She said she was mulling over a variety of options for 2004."

... National Green Party spokesman Dean Myerson said party officials weren't backing one potential candidate over any other but added McKinney had the support of many grass roots supporters around the country.

"It's obviously a big step, but the Green Party has been making a major attempt to appeal to African-Americans and other national communities with great success," he said. "The motivation is to have a spokesperson who can broaden the Green Party, talk to a community we feel not served by the Democratic Party."

Perhaps they feel they're missing out on that key insane asylum demographic?

During the primary, many Republicans crossed over to vote against the incumbent targeted, in part, for her pro-Palestinian stances and controversial statements.

Among them was her assertion that Bush administration officials covered up knowledge of the Sept. 11 attacks so allies could profit. McKinney lost in a blowout, but Myerson said most Green Party members aren't offended by the congresswoman's stances or comments.

"I haven't heard a lot of negatives from Greens about her," Myerson said. "A lot of people see her taking up issues Democrats haven't taken up."

So the Greens aren't adverse to win-at-all costs after all? After submarining Al Gore's bid for the presidency? We'll wait and see on that one:

The Green Party ran 57 candidates for congressional seats across the country in 2000, none of them successful. Nader got 3 percent of the vote nationwide. Many Democrats say Al Gore would be president today had Nader not challenged him in Florida.

Even though Nader's impressive showing for a third party helped boost the party rolls to 200,000 members nationwide, Eidinger said many activists want to see a new face lead the ticket, or at least a good primary fight.

"Most people in the Green Party believe we need to have a competitive primary to help expand the base of this party," Eidinger said. "We're not just the Nader party. We want to survive."

UPDATE: A reader e-mailed to note that Campaign & Elections covered this last week, with some more details:

According to Alabam Green activist John Stith, the day after McKinney lost her re-election bid, she asked if the Greens wanted her to run for president or as Nader's running mate.

One of the other Greens pushing the notion in the AP piece above, Jason Kafoury, was assigned to McKinney's failed congressional campaign by Nader himself. 20-40 Green party hacks worked on her campaign as well, and Cynthia has frequently had Green volunteers on staff in both her local and Capitol offices.

UPDATE, Sep. 16: CNSNews has more Green Party coverage.

Diamonds are a Jew's best friend: That may be so. My soon-to-be sister-in-law wears a big fat one on her ring -- a common sight on Long Island. My fiancee, however, wears a stunning sapphire. Diamonds appeal to me over other jewels for one reason alone: quntitative measurement. There are four measurements which can determine the essential value of a diamond, and it is hard to deceive on them.

When you go for the harder-to-define measurements of beauty, I'd wager my fiancee's engagement ring over most any diamond in the world.

Getting back to the topic at hand, Jewsweek profiles Lev Leviev, a Soviet Jew and major diamond dealer.

He is out to break the DeBeers diamond cartel.

Leviev was

born in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, a Soviet republic lost in the middle of Asia and buried under a sclerotic communist bureaucracy. He immigrated to Israel in 1971. His family had little money, so young Lev dropped out of school at the age of 16 and went to work polishing diamonds. He went into the Israeli army two years later. Upon his release, Leviev set up his own diamond-polishing company -- an unusual step for somebody so young and so inexperienced.

Becoming an independent businessman at that age was the first expression of a major part of Leviev's character: his need to be independent. This risky entrepreneurial venture led, in time, to his position today. Lev Leviev is now a multi-billionaire, the second-wealthiest Israeli, a revolutionary in the diamond industry, and the major player on the Russian-Jewish religious and political scene. Leviev is single-handedly taking on the great DeBeers diamond cartel that has dominated the diamond industry for generations -- and by almost anyone's account, he's actually gaining ground on them. Leviev has parlayed his riches into political power and charitable contributions, touching the lives of countless Jews.

The story is lengthy but fascinating. I won't meddle in copyright trouble any further -- just read on at Jewsweek.

What is the meaning of the Magen David (the Star of David)? Aish has an explanation of its origins, from symbolizing "God's rule over the universe in all six directions: north, south, east, west, up and down," to deeper Kaballistic interpretations, and even a few sarcastic but revealing notions...

Concordia riots, part II: When former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was invited to speak at the campus of Concordia University in Montreal on Monday, anti-Israeli demonstrators took to violence. The Little Green Footballs posts a gripping letter from eye-witness Sara Ahronheim (which I received this morning from the Jewish Interest Association). Check it out.

Bye Bye Billy McKinney: Billy, father of Cynthia (whom he explained was ousted by the "J-E-W-S"), has also fallen by the wayside, being beaten 65% - 35% by challenger John Noel in his state congress race.

MSNBC Investigates Hamas: Justin Weitz has an extensive list of the bias and inaccuracies in a recent MSNBC program: "Hmm, I thought. This will certainly explain how Hamas is a terrorist organization which murders Israeli children while supported by Yasser Arafat. Wrong."

Wednesday, September 11, 2002

A year ago today: When I arrived at my office, Iain was watching the TV. Now this immediately caught me as strange, since we turn on the TV in my office only a few times a year. He'd already guessed the first plane hitting the WTC was a terrorist attack. I was not buying that, not willing to think the worst. A few minutes later, I was thinking the worst.

My fiancee and my mother both were on email, already upset. I emailed back: "Well, if you turn on the TV, you'll find that we are at war. With whom it is not clear."

Then word got out that the Pentagon was hit.

9/12/01 The Pentagon

The phone lines got all tied up and no one could get through. I could not get through to anyone, although my brother was able to get through from Paris.

Rumors were flying. I was finally put at ease over the plane crash in Pennsylvania when I got through to my father -- I was on edge, having heard that it crashed in Pittsburgh.

San Francisco Examiner 9-11

Our building was being evacuated, but lots of us came back inside. DC was in gridlock. Buildings were emptying but no one knew where to go or what to do.

I suelched rumors that the State Department and White House were aflame, since my office is not too far from either one - we would have been able to see the smoke.

I could conceivably have gone home to Eastern Market, but I didn't see the benefit -- with word that the Metro was packed to the gills, I would have had to walk all the way around the mall. Hey, we may have been at war, but I was still lazy.

I did eventually leave after noon, after things had died down a bit in my area. I stopped at home for some belongings, then went out to stay with my fiancee in Virginia.

Before I left, I sent out a bulletin to all my friends and relatives I'd not connected with already that day:

Subject: despite war, I'm fine

Just putting out the bulletin, since people are in a panic, TV does not help and phone lines are all a mess.

DC and NY city are emptying, and important buildings are aflame.

I'm fine, so are my parents in Pittsburgh.

Tuesday, September 10, 2002

Benjamin Netanyahu faces a riot in Montreal:

Former Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu was forced to abandon a speaking engagement at Concordia University after what organizers billed as "a peaceful information picket" broke into a riot at the downtown Montreal campus. ... some 200 Palestinian supporters smashed through the glass façade of the building where Mr. Netanyahu was scheduled to speak. The Montreal police riot squad responded with tear gas and pepper spray. The protesters, many of them local activists who do not attend the university, crowded into the Henry F. Hall Building to toss chairs and newspaper boxes at police. At least five people were arrested, while hundreds more remained outside, closing off a downtown intersection. Classes were cancelled for the day.

Bibi spoke to reporters following the incident: "It's mad zealotry run amok... They're supporting Saddam Hussein, they're supporting Arafat, they're supporting bin Laden."

He seemed a tad pleased at what had happened. "I am glad that millions of citizens of Canada can see what this battle is about... [Canadians] were given an opportunity to see first-hand the mad zealotry that endangers our world. That same mentality -- whose offshoot you see here --runs sovereign states, and those states are amassing weapons of mass destruction."

Bibi did not comment explicitly on some of the rest of the "protesting" that went on yesterday:

"It was 1939 Europe all over again," said Thomas Hecht, 73, chairman of the Canada-Israel Committee's Quebec branch. About 25 protesters screaming "Palestinian checkpoint!" encircled Mr. Hecht, a Czechoslovakian-born Holocaust survivor, as he attempted to enter the Hall Building. Several protesters pushed him against a wall, spitting on him and kicking his ankles.

"This is a violation of all that Canadians value," a shaken Mr. Hecht said after he was guided to safety by another man and a group of journalists.

Police moved in with tear gas and pepper spray only after the windows were smashed. Earlier that morning, 24 riot police looked on as protesters spat on journalists and blocked them from entering the building. A demonstrator was permitted to chant slogans into a megaphone while perched atop a police van.

Ahmed, a 20-year-old Australian exchange student who would not give his last name, explained students had broken the windows "out of frustration with police brutality."

Protesters also grabbed Israeli flags and spat on a group of Jewish students who walked into the crowd singing Hebrew songs. "We were trying to show that peace is possible," said Dalia Lubell, as she pushed her way out of the angry crowd.

"Israeli provocation, as usual," said one protester, who refused to give his name.

David Battistuzzi, a Palestinian activist, said Mr. Netanyahu had no right to speak at Concordia.

"There's no free speech for hate speech," Mr. Battistuzzi, 24, a former Concordia student, said.

The Globe & Mail reports on more "peaceful demonstrations":

Montreal Rabbi Howard Joseph and his wife, Norma, a Concordia religion professor, were kicked and punched.

"The women aimed their punches at my breasts," Prof. Joseph said.

Gabriel Riff, who was trying to enter the building, said his kipa (head covering) was pulled off his head. "They threw it to the ground and kicked it away. When I tried to get it they kicked me," he said.

Elena (Middle East Realities) has a first-hand blogger's account of the incident.

Reporter Jonathan Kay waded into the fray himself:

Concordia University is the centre of militant Arabism in Canada, and it has recently seen a steady stream of extremists parade through its halls. (Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights, a prominent university group that organizes demonstrations, has circulated articles by Holocaust deniers alleging Israel is developing an "ethnic bomb" that will kill Arabs but not Jews.) But you never see Jews or anyone else coming to block SPHR from saying its piece. It is only among the school's Arabs -- many of whom, like Marouf, are immigrants from Arab nations where free speech is non-existent and anti-Semitic filth is widespread -- that it is considered acceptable to shut your opponent up by force.

Yesterday's fracas at Concordia was not the Middle East in miniature. I didn't see anyone strapped with mock explosives, and the protesters were careful to avoid burning an Israeli flag (as some protesters did in Toronto earlier this year). But there was still a climate of intimidation. When I tried to approach the Hall building, I was blocked by a crowd of protesters who declared they were creating "a Palestinian checkpoint." Many of the folks in yarmulkes -- including a pair of middle-aged men -- were shoved, kicked, smeared with ketchup meant to symbolize Palestinian blood, and otherwise harassed until they fled.

To the protesters -- well-steeped in the specious propaganda of the Arab world -- all of this was "legitimate resistance."

"Look what the police have done," a thin, friendly Concordia student named Ahmed told me, gesturing dramatically at a pane of smashed glass.

"But the protesters smashed the window," I said.

"Yes," he responded, "Out of frustration. Look at the way they're being treated!"

As we spoke, a group of Jewish students raised an Israeli flag. Almost immediately, a group of men chanting slogans in Arabic took it from them.

"Is that an act of frustration too?" I asked Ahmed, half seriously.

"They have no business taunting us," he said with great solemnity. "It's a provocation."

The "protest" had a specific aim. According to a notice in the on-line Montreal Muslim News last month: "The intention of this demonstration is to stop Netanyahu from speaking."

The National Post points out that the Concordia campus is no stranger to vile anti-Israeli antics.

But thanks to this incident, Concordia will not be holding any events at all related to Middle East issues for some time:

Concordia's rector, Frederick Lowy, said the university is studying tapes of the event with police and will take action, including expulsion, against students found to have been involved in the violence.

Until a university policy is developed, he instituted an immediate moratorium on public events dealing with the Middle East.

"Rational discourse is the very stuff of the university -- even heated argument -- provided there's no incitement or violence," Mr. Lowy said. "For us, this was a shameful event today."

As always, for the ongoing hate watch at Canadian universities, keep your eye on Damian Penny's blog (recently profiled in The Telegram)

Update Hillel distributed the following press release in response today:

Contact Montreal Hillel Executive Director Simon Bensimon, 514-845-9171, or Hillel Director of Communications Jeff Rubin 202-449-6534

Hillel Denounces Concordia Incident as Anti-Democratic

(Washington, D.C.-- September 10) Hillel condemns the violent, anti-democratic riot that prevented a Hillel-sponsored speech by former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at Concordia University in Montreal yesterday.

"It is absolutely outrageous that on the eve of September 11 a mob could displace intellectual discourse with violence," said Hillel President and International Director Richard M. Joel. "This anti-democratic manifestation is a blow against academic freedom and the very basis of democracy: freedom of expression. The university should take disciplinary measures against those who perpetrated these acts and should revise policies to prevent similar outrages in the future."

Local newspapers report that police used pepper spray to control 200 demonstrators who occupied the building in which the former prime minister was scheduled to speak, throwing chairs and newspaper boxes at police. Police arrested at least five people as other demonstrators tried to get into the building by smashing a window. Individuals attempting to attend the Netanyahu lecture were physically attacked by the demonstrators.

Concordia Hillel student President Yoni Petel said: "Hillel students at Concordia will not cave in to this intimidation. This is a disgusting new low in anti-Israel activities."

"This incident violates the freedom, mutual respect and pluralism that make Canada great," said Ariela Cotler, the president of the Board of Montreal Hillel. "This violates the Canadian and Quebec Charters of Rights and Freedoms. It sets a poor precedent for the education of our young people. It should be denounced by anyone who wishes to instill pride in our culture and create a new generation of Canadian leaders."

Wayne Firestone, the director of Hillel's Center for Israel Affairs, added: "Hijacking a college campus with acts of violence, threats, intimidation and censorship is fundamentally undemocratic. Israel's detractors, in their distorted logic, are mistaken to view with pride the behavior of zealots."

Montreal Hillel is working with Jewish community leaders, university administrators and local officials to address the situation.

Montreal Hillel provides opportunities for 7,000 Jewish college students at nine universities and colleges in the Montreal metropolitan area to explore and celebrate their Jewishness. The largest Jewish campus organization in the world, Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life, is committed to creatively empowering and engaging Jewish students through its network of over 500 regional centers, campus foundations, program centers and affiliates. Its long-standing dedication to building Jewish identity, while nurturing intellectual and spiritual growth in a pluralistic community, positions Hillel as a leader in building a stronger Jewish people and stronger Jewish future. For more information, visit www.hillel.org.

Update, 9-11: JTA has more coverage.

ARAFAT RETIRES TO MIAMI BEACH; CLAIMS LAND HELD BY JEWISH RETIREES:

Dutiful Palestinian medical personnel attend to stricken Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat after he was felled by a near lethal Mah Jongg tile in intense Miami Beach skirmish.

(Miami)--In a move that has significantly altered the political landscape of the Middle East, PLO Chairman Yassir Arafat last Saturday announced his retirement and quickly moved to Miami, Florida. Almost immediately, Arafat claimed 39% of the land owned by Hillel House on the campus of The University of Miami, as well as land occupied by the Moses Mendelssohn Community Retirement Center situated in the trendy South Beach section of the city.

Arafat, however, got more than he bargained for when he attempted to occupy the Retirement Center land. His military incursion was met with fierce resistance by members of the South Beach Hadassah who were meeting in the Center at the time. Reports are still sketchy, but it appears that Arafat and his forces sustained serious casualties and had to abandon their attack when elderly Hadassah members hurled Mah Jongg tiles at the Palestinian terrorists.

"I've never seen anything like it," said Miami Police Chief Buford Rodriquez. "You can't believe the lethal impact of a Mah Jongg tile thrown at 95 mph. Man, some of those grannies ought to try out for the Marlins. They'd be Cy Young contenders for sure."

The European Parliament quickly denounced the Hadassah group's inflammatory use of Mah Jongg tiles, and decided to schedule a debate to decide whether or not to form an exploratory group to consider a proposal to request an investigation into the matter. Under consideration is a proposal in which the Grand Duchy of Liechtenstein would send peacekeeping troops to Miami Beach to establish "safe zones" that would be free of all Mah Jongg activity.

For his part, Arafat is going to appear before the General Assembly Of the United Nations to urge the passing of Resolution 843, making Mah Jongg a form of genocide.

(source unknown)

When your allies don't think much of you: Josh Kraushaar discusses the case of Sarah Kopelovich, "a 21-year old George Washington University senior, was spit on, harrassed and assaulted at a counterdemonstration to neo-Nazis at the Capitol last week. Why? Because she brought an Israeli flag to the event."

Creativity in the peace process: The Palestinian Arabs tried to smuggle a deadly 1,300-pound bomb into Israel today.

They were stopped, thankfully, and no one was hurt.

They tried to smuggle the bomb in a creative way ... they had it hidden underneath a large peace talks table.

courtesy of Mike Sultan

'Honey, you need to do it.' I keep pulling stories from the Jewish Week 9-11 supplement - each one is a little blow to the heart. Lyzbeth Glick remembers her husband Jeremy:

The first thing he told me was, 'My plane has been taken over by three men.' He said they were Iranian-looking, they were wearing red headbands. . . . Then he told me he thought he was going to die; he said he would respect any decisions I made. He didn’t sound panicked, he didn’t sound angry. He just sounded very, very sad. . . .

Then he went into a planning mode. He said there were three guys as big as him-- – Jeremy was a large guy, a little over six feet and 220 pounds; in 1993 he was the NCAA judo champion for his weight class -- and they were thinking of jumping the hijacker with the bomb. Did I think it was a good idea?

I hesitated, then I said, 'Honey, you need to do it.'

He was thinking of what he could use as a weapon, besides his hands. He said, 'I have my butter knife from breakfast.' Which is like Jeremy; he always made a light comment when things were stressful.

Say it to my face. I heartily concur with the sentiments expressed in this article. Not that I would have wished it on anyone, God forbid, but I was immensely relieved after 9-11.

78704 - more than a zipcode, a way of life. Okay, let's lighten things up a bit. The Texas lovefest over at Greatest Jeneration reminds me of my favorite Austin joke, which you can find in the comments section when you scroll down. Like all really great ethnic jokes, it's too true for comfort. If you don't believe me, when I googled "78704 way of life" I got this journal:

You didn't even have to look at the number to tell it was the gate to Austin. People were tanned, wearing birks and tie dye, and talking to each other. One guy held a baby that was twice as tan as me. He was trying to get it to come over to me. "Go say hi to the lady" he whispered. "No, please don't, I've been living in England" I wanted to say. Then another guy intervened and started playing with it. Stangers around me were talking to each other about their children's "development centers"... "is it really meeting Hayley's needs?" . . . .

My plane landed in Austin on time. As soon as I stepped off the plane I could feel a rush of heat from outside. Oh yeah, I forgot about that. Temperatures as high as 80F would provoke British weathermen to use words like "mindbendingly hot", or "scorching". This was about 95, and I was lost for words.

Then her friends take her to the Mexican restaurant with the great ceviche that's 2 blocks from my house.

The holy task of guarding the dead. The Jewish Week special supplement Yizkor for 9-11 has a story about the guy who organized the shomrim for the 9-11 dead, those who perform

the most selfless of Jewish commandments: to keep watch over the dead, who must not be left alone from the moment of passing until burial. Normally, this Orthodox ritual, known as sitting shmira, lasts for only 24 hours and is performed by one Jew, customarily a man, for another Jew. But these are not normal times. Thus the round-the-clock vigil outside the morgue on First Avenue and 30th Street is already in its eighth week. The three sealed trucks may or may not contain Jewish bodies. And the shomer, or watcher, is just as often a young woman as an old man.

"The shomrim were present '24-7,'" Ribowsky noted, and “they never missed. They came. They read Psalms. They didn’t kibitz around. They didn’t watch TV. They did what they were supposed to do and they did it day in and day out.”

The most dedicated of the 9-11 shomrim were students at Yeshiva University's Stern College for Women.

In the darkest hours of the night, Judith Kaplan, dressed in her Sabbath finery, sat in a tent outside the New York City Medical Examiner's office, singing the haunting repertoire from the Book of Psalms. . . [She] is one of nine students who have volunteered for this solemn task on weekends, working in shifts from Friday afternoons until nightfall on Saturdays, the holiest part of the week. The rest of the time, the task is performed by scores of volunteers from an Orthodox synagogue, Ohab Zedek, on West 95th Street. Devout Jews cannot ride on the Sabbath, putting the subway or taxis off-limits for the long trek from Ohab Zedek to the morgue. So the Stern students, whose dormitories are within blocks of the morgue, have filled the breach. . .

[They] have won blessings from Christian chaplains at the site, and their dedication has moved police officers and medical examiners to tears. . . . Each volunteer said she had begun with fears about sitting within sight of the trucks full of remains. Instead, they said, they have found peace and a kind of joy. . . . "Time completely stops," she said. "Now I understand what it is to pray with your heart."

The story of the Stern College shomrim even travelled across the Atlantic:

"My favourite is Psalm 130. Right before I walk out, I always say it. The core of it is a line about how we're longing for the dawn, the day in which we don't have to deal with trauma anymore. These people who were murdered missed this opportunity, it was ripped from them, and that makes me want to strive harder for it myself. Sitting in that tent praying, I'm conscious of the fact that countless numbers of souls are just there. I'm praying for them, and even though its supposed to be a selfless act as the dead can't pay you back, their souls are sitting there saying, 'Thank you'."

Read these stories if you need a good cry.

Monday, September 09, 2002

Suggestions for memorializing 9-11, from the Jewish tradition. I think Bruce Hill speaks for many of us when he expresses apprehension about the first anniversary of the World Trade Center attack:

It's going to be difficult. Nothing will satisfy us. The commemorations will be over the top, not enough, shmaltzy, analytical, wallowing in grief, warmongering, too hard on militant Islam, not hard enough on militant Islam, treasonous, flag-waving...whatever happens, someone will object. And perhaps rightly. In truth, the only genuine response is silence. But we don't live in a culture that values silence, we need to surround ourselves with words, images, sounds, analysis, wisdom, gibberish...anything to keep silence at bay.

Several Jewish writers have been thinking about what our traditions - which have nurtured a civilization through centuries of adversity - may have to offer an individualistic, secular society faced with the anniversary of a devastating communal wound. And they have some good suggestions.

Richard Goldstein addresses Bruce's desire for silent commemoration:

. . . Yom Kippur allows people to remember the dead, stripping away the defenses against lasting grief that are such a specialty in this society. And sorrow is the true measure of 9-11. It teaches the temporality of not just life but buildings, even skylines. If they are mortal, these structures are also animate—alive with meaning and memory. . . . Yom Kippur exhorts us to confront the inevitability of sin and death; to cast out the former (with bread on the water) and plead for a reprieve from the latter . . . .

Consider the decision to suspend Broadway shows, and the impulse to curtail flying on that day. Both are practical responses that also resonate with Jewish tradition. . . . What if everything stopped on 9-11, just as it did during the attack? What if we took the day as an occasion to stroll the streets, to be with our families, to reflect or pray?

That last sounds a bit like Yom Ha-Zikkaron. When the air-raid sirens sound to memorialize Israel's dead, everyone stops what they are doing and observes a few minutes of silence. Not a bad idea.

The Jewish Week has a supplement on New York Jewish responses to 9-11, filled with painfully poignant essays by doctors, rabbis, medical examiners, firemen, relatives of those lost. Read the whole thing. It includes this suggestion for a commemoration based on the Passover seder:

. . . . In part because of the prohibition against idol worship, Judaism has a distinctly modern attitude to memorials. Objects do not represent the past; rather, they are used to conduct passage to it. In my view, the most successful memorial ever constructed is the Passover meal. At the seder, for example, the physical items on the seder plate are conduits to experiences and ideas thousands of years old. With the Passover ritual we root the present into the past. For eight days we change our routines and do not eat bread.

Every year, the ritual items for the seder plate have to be made anew. These symbolic objects — the shank bone, the matzah — cannot be preserved or inherited. The seder is itself a conversation, scheduled annually to “refresh” the present by pulling depth from the past. Dynamic questions without fixed answers make these conversations iterative; in some cases, the record of important conversations becomes a permanent part of the seder.

In some ways Thanksgiving is the American version of the Passover seder. (There is some evidence that the settlers at Plymouth Rock were influenced by Jewish scripture when they created their feast.) Could a similar family holiday dinner ritual be established for September 11th? Could rituals commemorating 9-11 be added to a Thanksgiving dinner? What would it look like? Michael Lerner has proposed a secular American Fourth of July seder using symbols of American tolerance and freedom, and that also could incorporate a commemoration of 9-11.

Although we all have different ideas about what and how we should celebrate or mourn, ritualizing the day with family time, conversation, silence, and concrete objects which evoke the values we want to preserve, seems like a good way to remember what happened here. (If your curiosity is piqued and you want to learn more about Jewish ritual, this is a great resource.)

Islamic Poll Daze: According to a recent poll from the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), 57 percent of American Muslims claim to have experienced bias or discrimination themselves since 9-11, and 87 percent say they know of another Muslim who has experienced discrimination.

Join me as I explain exactly how bad this poll really is, and as I examine CAIR's appalling track record with dodgy opinion polls, in today's TechCentralStation column.

Yes, I messed up! As many of you commented, the year is indeed 5763, not 5764. I'm not certain where I got the notion, but I am sorry...

Kesher Talk

Saturday, September 14, 2002

Friday, September 13, 2002

Thursday, September 12, 2002

Wednesday, September 11, 2002

Tuesday, September 10, 2002

Monday, September 09, 2002

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