Kesher Talk: 05/18/2003

Saturday, May 24, 2003

Shavuot count-down: Day 38 of counting the Omer. Using Kabbalistic symbology for counting the Omer - the days between the 2nd night of Pesach and the start of Shavuot - tonight begins the Tiferet of Yesod: Compassion in Bonding. Rabbi Simon Jacobson's meditation for this day of the Omer:

Bonding needs to be not only loving but also compassionate, feeling your friend's pain and empathizing with him. Is my bonding conditional? Do I withdraw when I am uncomfortable with my friend's troubles?

(More on counting the Omer here)

Friday, May 23, 2003

Shavuot count-down: Day 37 of counting the Omer. Using Kabbalistic symbology for counting the Omer - the days between the 2nd night of Pesach and the start of Shavuot - tonight begins the Gevurah of Yesod: Discipline of Bonding. Rabbi Simon Jacobson's meditation for this day of the Omer:

Bonding must be done with discretion and careful consideration with whom and with what you bond. Even the healthiest and closest bonding needs "time out", a respect for each individual's space. Do I overbond? Am I too dependent on the one I bond with? Is he too dependent on me? Do I bond out of desperation? Do I bond with healthy, wholesome people?

(More on counting the Omer here)

Evil terrorist sympathizers seeks Jewish dupes. Rachel Corrie's cult ISM is looking for a few clueless Jews to help them infiltrate the territories. They would also prefer that you be "more mature," so you won't be immediately recognizable as a naive pierced tattooed dreadlocked Nazimedia-reading conspiracy-theory-spinning shmuck. (via Amish Tech Support)

Sex and the City. I was browsing around the craig's list personals last night, and saw this ad. Way too young for me, but I decided to have some fun. So I sent him this reply:

I do not like green eggs and ham
I do not like Bill Gates and spam

I might like MOMA, OOB, and BAM
I might like food from Viet Nam

I might splash you at the beach
I might stand up and make a speech

You will not find me with a dog
You will not find me making smog

You will not find me in a bar
You will not find me dissing the war

Without a date I sure get pissed
Then I scroll around craig's list

This ad makes me guffaw so hard
I spew coffee on the keyboard

Funny quirky smarty dude
May even look good in the nude.....?

Darn - when he was born, I could vote
I guess that means that's all she wrote.

:-)

I'm tempted to reply to this guy, and this one too, but they leave me a bit breathless. I wonder if this one makes house calls? There's a Starbucks right across the street from my building . . . . (And how come all these silly sly cuties are under 40? Hmmmm?) (I have nothing against robbing the cradle, but they usually do unless they specify older women. And usually the ones who want older women are looking to be Initiated into the Mysteries of Erotic Trancendance or some such, and I couldn't pull that off with a straight face.)

Since I am circumspect about blogging about my personal life, if anything comes of all this, you probably won't hear about it.

PS The Best of Craig's List rivals Laurence Simon for helpless gasping coffee through the nose-ness.

When your diplomats are out to screw you over, you must be an American:

No one was supposed to know that Assistant Secretary of State William Burns met with a coterie of Israeli doves and Palestinian Ministers and officials under the banner of Peace Now at the U.S. Consulate in West Jerusalem. And surely no one was supposed to know his response to left-wing Knesset Member Colette Avital who, according to the minutes of the meeting reported in The Jerusalem Post, "expressed reservations about the U.S. Conservatives, Christians and AIPAC," and alleged that these constituencies, "are lobbying to torpedo the road map and suggested that the Americans should help us [the Peace Coalition] to express our views to the American public."

No one was supposed to know that, according to the minutes (according to The Post), Burns stated his view that "the common sense of all peoples will override the Conservative and Christian viewpoints once they see the road map's potential." He told the anti-government group to continue with their political activities "as new peace attempts reflects the peoples will and will result in fundamental changes."

Thursday, May 22, 2003

Shavuot count-down: Day 36 of counting the Omer. Using Kabbalistic symbology for counting the Omer - the days between the 2nd night of Pesach and the start of Shavuot - we have travelled through all of the combinations of the 7 lower sephirot with the the sephira of Hod. Tonight we begin 7 days of combining these sephirot with the sephira of Yesod, beginning with Chesed of Yesod: Lovingkindness of Bonding. Rabbi Simon Jacobson's meditation for this day of the Omer:

Love is the heart of bonding. You cannot bond without love. Love establishes a reliable base on which bonding can build. If you have a problem bonding, examine how much you love the one (or the experience) with which you wish to bond. Do I try to bond without first fostering a loving attitude? Is my bonding expressed in a loving manner?

(More on counting the Omer here. More on Yesod here.)

Israel to apply to join the European Union? I did a double take when I read that in UPI.

The visiting delegation from the European Union was startled this week when Israel Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said his government was weighing an application to join the EU.

"It doesn't mean he is preparing the dossier for applying tomorrow," an Israeli spokesman said. "In principle, the minister thinks a possibility exists for Israel to join the EU, since Israel and Europe share similar economies and democratic values."

In theory, yes, they do share some values - but not the ones that matter most right now. With Europe continually discounting Israel's security needs - when not trying to undermine its existence - I don't see how this could happen anytime soon. Of course, there are other problems:

Shalom broached the subject Tuesday, but there is no immediate prospect of this happening, since under EU rules, new members must have no outstanding border disagreements with their neighbors. The incoming new members from Eastern Europe, particularly Hungary and Romania, had to resolve long-standing disputes to clear their path for entry.

The Maginot Line: France, Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany have made an agreement to establish joint military operations.

Under the terms of the agreement, if any one of the counties is attacked ... all four will surrender.

(courtesy of Mike Sultan)

Wednesday, May 21, 2003

Shavuot count-down: Day 35 of counting the Omer. Using Kabbalistic symbology for counting the Omer - the days between the 2nd night of Pesach and the start of Shavuot - tonight begins the Malchut of Hod: Nobility in Humility. Rabbi Simon Jacobson's meditation for this day of the Omer:

Walking humbly is walking tall. Dignity is the essence of humility and modesty. The splendor of humility is majestic and aristocratic. Humility that suppresses the human spirit and denies individual sovereignty is not humility at all. Does my humility make me feel dignified? Do I feel alive and vibrant?

We have now moved through all of the combinations of the 7 lower sephirot with the the sephira of Hod. Tomorrow begins the week of the sephira of Yesod.

(More on counting the Omer here)

Banning kosher meat in Britain? That is the aim of the Farm Animal Welfare Council, which is supposed to advise Number 10 on animal welfare. So they have indicted the merciful laws of kosher slaughter in a four-year study, concluding that Jewish and Muslim slaughter methods are inhumane. Of course, it is all part of a broader anti-meat campaign.

Not to discount Judaism's endorsement of vegetarianism entirely, however -- Richard h. Schwartz has identified numerous reasons why high meat consumption and the ways in which meat is produced today conflict with Judaism.

Tuesday, May 20, 2003

Shavuot count-down: Day 34 of counting the Omer. Using Kabbalistic symbology for counting the Omer - the days between the 2nd night of Pesach and the start of Shavuot - tonight begins the Yesod of Hod: Bonding in Humility. Rabbi Simon Jacobson's meditation for this day of the Omer:

Humility should not be a lonely experience. It ought to result in deep bonding and commitment. There is no stronger bond than one that comes out of humility. Does my humility separate me from others or bring us closer? Does my humility produce results? Long term results? Does it create an everlasting foundation upon which I and others can rely and build.

(More on counting the Omer here)

Jews in odd places: Spain: There aren't a ton of Jews in Spain--not since they got the boot hundreds of years ago. But controversy has stirred over just how much power they really have and who is puppeteering who...

Monday, May 19, 2003

Shavuot count-down: Day 33 of counting the Omer. Using Kabbalistic symbology for counting the Omer - the days between the 2nd night of Pesach and the start of Shavuot - tonight begins the Hod of Hod: Humility in Humility. Rabbi Simon Jacobson's meditation for this day of the Omer:

Everyone has humility and modesty in their hearts, the question is the measure and manner in which one consciously feels it. Am I afraid to be too humble? Do I mask and protect my modesty with aggressive behavior? Humility must also be examined for its genuineness. Is my humility humble? Or is it yet another expression of arrogance? Do I take too much pride in my humility? Do I flaunt it? Is it self-serving? Is my humility part of a crusade or is it genuine?

(More on counting the Omer here)

Oh Lordy what times these be. Tacitus observes the latest crop of Foreign Service applicants.

. . . a gathering of assorted pre-law/polisci refugees (giveaway: khakis and buttoned shirt) mixed with politically active humanities lite majors (floor-length skirts for the women, goatees for the men). In my world of stereotypes, I wouldn't have looked at these people and said, "Go forth to represent America." Perhaps "Go forth and bring me a latte."

. . . during the Q&A on the statement of motivation, one of the women present raised her hand to ask: "What if your motivation is to join the Foreign Service so you can help State resist the Bush Administration?" To his credit, the FS officer leading the session told her to leave that one at the door. But she persisted: "But, you know, do you think they'll be able to read between the lines and see what I'm really saying? Because I want them to know." The officer narrowed his eyes and told her a second time to abandon such foolishness. The woman seemed unconvinced . . .

Meanwhile, a Utah town votes to become a "U.N.-free zone."

And Michael Totten rounds up a few more "progressives" appalled at what their movement has become.

Jews in odd places: Denmark: There aren't that many Jews in Denmark, and, since they're Jewish, they're having trouble agreeing on their direction.

While some avid reformists favour granting women and men equal status during religious services, die-hard orthodox practitioners - many of them members of the Krystalgade Synagogue, an orthodox Copenhagen institution since 1833 - are holding fast to the traditional notion of what it means to be Jewish in contemporary Europe.

Tension between the city's Reform and Orthodox camps reached a fever pitch when London-based Reform Rabbi Julia Neuberger attended the meeting of an Orthodox congregation, in anticipation of a critical leadership vote in Mosaisk Troessamfund: a vote hinging in large part on the society's balance between Reform and Orthodox elements and a desperate bid for the survival of Copenhagen's Jewish communities.

In 1968, this country counted 5,500 Jews, 48.7 percent of whom were registered members of Mosaisk Troessamfund. Berlingske Tidende noted this week that, of the 7,000 Jews reported in this country in 2002 - most of them in the Greater Copenhagen area - just 30.8 percent were members of the group. Numbers of practicing Jews continue to dwindle as younger generations intermarry and abandon their synagogue memberships. (The Copenhagen Post, Dec. 12, 2002)

No we don't. Eeuuw. Geraldo Rivera is getting married for the 5th time to a woman half his age (and coincidentally, at the synagogue my dad and his trophy wife used to attend).

“I'm making a conscious decision to take this whole Judaism thing seriously. I think the Jews need me right now," Rivera told the Washington Post.

(That's so sweet, Jerry! So the honeymoon's in Jerusalem, right? Right?)

Laura concurs.

(BTW both the rabbis of this congregation are mentches who were very helpful during my father's illness and death two years ago, and there is nothing about the place that attracts May-December couples in particular.)

Sunday, May 18, 2003

Blatant terrorist sympathizer and inhuman zombie Dept. This is beyond disgusting. Dominique Hess was the waitress at Mike's Place who was killed.

Catherine, the sister of Dominique Hess is having trouble with the Israeli security services in getting permission to visit the country from France, because she is a member of an anti-globalization group that is pro-Palestinian. According to the Interior Ministry, which arranges visits by family members of terror victims, she was going to come on her trip accompanied by members of her group and they were worried about "provocation." According to the paper, they've given Catherine permission to come in, but not her group members -- subsequently the Hess family is postponing their trip.

A woman is killed by a suicide bomber. Her own sister won't visit her grave unless she can turn it into a political statement in favor of suicide bombers.

This is the most depraved thing I have read yet. It's worse than Adam Shapiro.

What in God's name is wrong with French people? They are turning into the Stepford Wives, brainwashed by the anti-globo movement instead of suburbia.

UPDATE: Someone who was able to get the whole story instead of the translated bit I read, clued me in that Dominique is buried in France. So her sister's attempt to visit to Israel isn't related to her burial. Which makes this slightly less awful. But not much.

Actually, I know what is wrong with French people. Alain Finkielkraut laid it all out at the Anti-semitism Conference last week.

France, he claimed, has become what Albert Camus called "'a judge-penitent,' a universal moralizer whose credentials to judge everybody, everywhere, all the time, rest on the awareness of its own past and potential criminality." This zeal for moralizing has taken the form of an "obsessive remembrance that empties the universe of everything that is not Nazi or victim." The French progressive left, atoning for its colonial crimes, has identified the Palestinian as the victim par excellence, and so Israelis necessarily become Nazis and Sharon becomes Hitler. All other European nations "have done their civilizing homework except the Jews," the French left insists; only Israelis have forgotten the Holocaust. And so, with a terrible irony, the antisemitism of the French can be traced to the belief that the Jews have become "the last antisemites of the Western world."

Indeed, according to Finkielkraut, Israel's great crime is to be the enemy of the Other, which the post-colonial West has taken upon itself to support unquestioningly. Such an accusation represents a terrible joke on the Jewish dream of normalcy, for now Jews are singled out and doomed for not being as other as the Other.

“What Jews are blamed for nowadays is not the corruption of French or European identity but the damage and suffering they inflict on Palestinians,” he said. “They are not accused of clinging stubbornly to their Jewishness but of betraying it.”

If this sounds a bit precious and pomo - his presentation was very lucid. The reporter isn't doing him justice. I hope they post the video of the conference sessions on the site soon.

Shavuot count-down: Day 32 of counting the Omer. Using Kabbalistic symbology for counting the Omer - the days between the 2nd night of Pesach and the start of Shavuot - tonight begins the Netzach of Hod: Endurance in Humility Rabbi Simon Jacobson's meditation for this day of the Omer:

Examine the strength and endurance of your humility. Does my humility withstand challenges? Am I firm in my positions or do I waffle in the name of humility? Humility and modesty should not cause one to feel weak and insecure. Netzach of Hod underscores the fact that true humility does not make you into a "doormat" for others to step on; on the contrary, humility gives you enduring strength. Is my humility perceived as weakness? Does that cause others to take advantage of me?

(More on counting the Omer here)

Some facts about Israel. Lots of blogs get more hits than KT, so we try to find news and views no one else is covering. Go read about the latest suicide bombings on LGF, vent some spleen, then remember some facts

about the 100th smallest country, with less than 1/1000th of the world's population:

* Israel leads the world in the number of scientists and technicians in the workforce, with 145 per 10,000, as opposed to 85 in the U.S., over 70 in Japan, and less than 60 in Germany. With over 25% of its work force employed in technical professions. Israel places first in this category as well.
* Israel has the highest ratio of university degrees to the population in the world.
* Israel has the highest per capita ratio of scientific publications in the world by a large margin, as well as one of the highest per capita rates of patents filed.
* In proportion to its population, Israel has the largest number of startup companies in the world. In absolute terms, Israel has the largest number of startup companies than any other country in the world, except the US (3,500 companies mostly in hi-tech).
* Israel is ranked #2 in the world for VC funds right behind the US.
* Israel has the highest percentage in the world of home computers per capita.
* Outside the United States and Canada, Israel has the largest number of NASDAQ listed companies
* Israel has the highest average living standards in the Middle East. The per capita income in 2000 is over $17,500, exceeding that of the UK.
* With more than 3,000 high-tech companies and start-ups, Israel has the highest concentration of hi-tech companies in the world (apart from the Silicon Valley).
* With an aerial arsenal of over 250 F-16s, Israel has the largest fleet of the aircraft outside of the US.
* Israel's $100 billion economy is larger than all of its immediate neighbors combined.
* The cell phone was developed in Israel by Motorola-Israel. Motorola built its largest development center worldwide in Israel.
* Windows NT software was developed by Microsoft-Israel.
* The Pentium MMX Chip technology was designed in Israel at Intel.
* Voice mail technology was developed in Israel.
* AOL's instant message program was designed by an Israeli software company.
* Both Microsoft and Cisco built their only R&D facilities outside the US in Israel.
* On a per capita basis, Israel has the largest number of biotech start-ups
* Israel has the largest raptor migration in the world, with hundreds of thousands of African birds of prey crossing as they fan out into Asia.
* Twenty-four percent of Israel's workforce holds university degrees -- ranking third in the industrialized world, after the United States and Holland -- and 12 percent hold advanced degrees.

UPDATE: Here's more (a very long list of Fun Facts and humanitarian and technological achievements - did you know that AOL Instant Messenger, Windows NT, and the cell phone were developed in Israel, and that "Israel is the only country in the world that entered the 21st century with a net gain in its number of trees"?).

Unwilling terrorist dupe Dept. Some months ago, a German TV network produced a documentary making a good case that Mohammed al-Dura was not killed by ID bullets, but by Palestinian bullets. Now the latest evidence of the cause of al-Dura's death is laid out in the Atlantic.

Whatever happened to him, he was not shot by the Israeli soldiers who were known to be involved in the day's fighting—or so I am convinced, after spending a week in Israel talking with those examining the case. The exculpatory evidence comes not from government or military officials in Israel, who have an obvious interest in claiming that their soldiers weren't responsible, but from other sources. In fact, the Israel Defense Forces, or IDF, seem to prefer to soft-pedal the findings rather than bring any more attention to this gruesome episode. The research has been done by a variety of academics, ex-soldiers, and Web-loggers who have become obsessed with the case, and the evidence can be cross-checked.

Homosexual columnist on the loose. Andrew Sullivan elegantly fisks Dennis Prager, who is not my favorite politically conservative Jew, to put it mildly.

Here's where us liberal hawks part company from the truly right-wing. Charles Krauthammer, for example, is a liberal uber-hawk. I can't imagine Krauthammer writing ignorant bigoted crap about gay people (if he has, let me know). Dennis Prager is a died-in-the-wool conservative of the type that I like to point to whenever somebody wonders why Jews are reluctant to support the Republican Party.

Go get him, Andrew.

UPDATE: Laura Lantoniou gets in a few licks at the Pragester with a heart-warming portrait of New York's gay and lesbian synagogue.

Suicide bomber was disguised as a religious Jew: A terrorist disguised as a Jewish seminary student blew up in Hebron last night. An army unit suspected the assailant and chased him, but could not prevent him from detonating. An Israeli man and his wife, Gidi and Dina Levy, were killed.

The attack occurred hours before a scheduled first meeting between the Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian PM Abu Mazen.

Kesher Talk

Saturday, May 24, 2003

Friday, May 23, 2003

Thursday, May 22, 2003

Wednesday, May 21, 2003

Tuesday, May 20, 2003

Monday, May 19, 2003

Sunday, May 18, 2003

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